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Copyright   Ewing    Galloway 

THE  LURE  OF  INDIA'S  TREE-LINED  ROADS,  GREEN  FIELDS, 
AND  EVERLASTING  HILLS 


WITH  INDIA 

By  DANIEL  JOHNSON  FLEMING 

Author  of  Marks  of  a  World  Christian, 
Devolution  in  Mission  Administration, 
Schools   with   a   Message   in  India,   etc. 


.r^l^ 


Published  jointly  by  a^^^C^-Zi:,,.-.^ 

Missionary  Education  Movement  of  the 

United  States  and  Canada  ,     _^ 

New  York     .^^^^  ^t^j^^.^-^-.u-i^-^Sii*^  *7T^ 

and  ^i^:2iZ,  Z'—  ^^^•^-''^ 

The  Central  Committee  on  the  UnitSi^5toy  op 
Foreign  Missions  CL^^,,X<Xi.^etAy 
West  Medford,  Mass. 


The  publishers  of  this  book  are  indebted  to 

the    INTERCHURCH    WORLD    MOVEMENT    for 

valuable  material  on  the  location  of  mission 
stations  as  indicated  on  the  map  in  the  front 
of  the  book.  Records  were  made  available  by 
the  Committee  on  Social  and  Religious 
Surveys,  which  is  custodian  of  all  survey- 
records  formerly  assembled  by  the  Inter- 
CHURCH  World  Movement. 


Copyright,  1922,  by 

The  Central  Committee  on  the  United  Study  of 

Foreign  Missions 

and 

Missionary  Education  Movement  of  the 

United  States  and  Canada 


5Y 


To  Elizabeth  Cole  Fleming 


1641226 


CONTENTS 

Preface   vii 


Chapter  One:  India's  Heritage 

Page 

I.    Nature,  architecture,  and  art  1 

II.    Music  and  story 3 

III.  Literature    6 

IV.  Power    of    contemplation    and    philosophic 

temperament     6 

V.    Capacity  for  renunciation   and  detachment  7 

VI.    India's  religious  consciousness  10 

VII.    The  national  spirit  15 

VIII.    The  appreciative  attitude   19 

IX.    The  significance  of  India's  heritage 24 

Prayer     29 

Chapter  Two:  Handicaps  to  Progress 

I.    India's  struggle  with  disease  31 

II.    Health  problems  and  obstacles 37 

III.  Progress  in  sanitation   40 

IV.  India's  burden  of  poverty  41 

V.    Causes  of  poverty  43 

VI.    Possibilities  of  economic  improvement 45 

VII.    The  conditions  of  capital  and  labor 49 

VIII.    The  seriousness  of  India's  economic  need  ....  51 

IX.    Handicaps  in  education   53 

X.    An  outgrown  social  system  56 

XL    Inadequate  recognition  of  women's  rights  ...  61 

XII.    The  fundamental  handicap — Hinduism   66 

Prayer    73 

Chapter  Three:   Striving  and  Aspiration 

I.    Ram    Mohan    Roy    and    theistic    reforming 

societies     74 

II.    The  Arya  Samaj   78 

III.  Conferences  and  publications  urging  reform  81 

IV.  The  Servants  of  India  Society 84 

V.  The  modern  woman's  movement  in  India 86 

VI.    The  romance  of  the  Indo-British  relationship  92 


VII.    A  RESUME  OP  Indian  politics 97 

VIII.    The  World  War  and  the  new  British  policy  103 

IX.    The  Gandhi  movement  105 

X.    Resulting  problems  of  mission  attitude  and 

policy    108 

Prayer     115 

Chapter  Four:  Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West 

I.      A  NOBLE  succession  OF  DEVOTED  WORKERS 116 

II.  Helping  through  the  mind  120 

III.  Enabling  India  to  live  130 

IV.  Medical   missions    136 

V.  Social  results  and  opportunities  142 

VI.    Aim  and  method  in  missions 144 

VII.    The  kind  of  missionary  needed 150 

Prayer     157 

Chapter  Five:  The  Distinctive  Opportunity  in  India 
I.    An  exploited  sixth   158 

II.      A  GREAT  TURNING  TOWARD  THE  "CHRISTIAN  WAY"   162 

III.  Evidence  of  fruitage  167 

IV.  Times  of  testing   172 

V.    Stubborn   difficulties    174 

VI.    Do  we  merit  the  name — co-worker? 179 

Prayer     183 

Chapter  Six:  The  Indian  Church 

I.    The  center  of  gravity  in  our  thought 184 

II.    The   trend   toward   an   indigenous   Church: 

N.  V.  TiLAK  185 

III.  Sadhu  Sundar  Singh   190 

IV.  Christians  and  patriotism  192 

V.    The  burden  of  Western  denominationalism  . .  195 

VI.    Some  other  problems  of  the  Indlan  Church  . .  198 

VII.    Indian  leadership   205 

VIII.    Signs  of  expansive  life  214 

IX.    Potential    India    217 

Prayer     221 

Bibliography     222 

Index     226 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


FACING 
PAGE 


One  of  India's  Tree-lined  Roads Frontispiece 

The  Jessamine  Tower  20 

A  Science  Class   21 

Waiting    60 

A  Shrine  of  the  Snake  God 61 

India's  Industrialization   76 

A  Motor  Car  Clinic 77 

An  Elementary  Mission  School 124 

Training  Christian  Workers 125 

Laying  Foundations    140 

"Forward"     141 

Church  in  Peshawar  180 

Veteran  Indian  Pastors 181 

Miss  Cornelia  Sorabji  212 

The  Bishop  of  Dornakal 213 


FOREWORD 

We  are  happy  to  announce  that  this  study  book  is 
published  jointly  by  the  Central  Committee  on  the 
United  Study  of  Foreign  Missions  and  the  Mis- 
sionary Education  Movement. 

Many  have  known  the  author,  Rev.  Daniel 
Johnson  Fleming,  Ph.D.,  through  his  book  Marks  of 
a  World  Christian,  and  will  recognize  in  Building 
with  India  the  same  spiritual  power  that  breathed 
through  former  series  of  studies  so  widely  used 
by  students  of  missions. 

Dr.  Fleming's  twelve  years  of  missionary  ser- 
vice in  India  as  professor  in  Forman  Christian  Col- 
lege, Lahore,  and  his  recent  visit  to  the  country  as 
Secretary  of  The  Commission  on  Village  Education 
in  India,  sent  out  by  the  missionary  boards  of  Brit- 
ain and  America,  qualify  him  to  write  with  au- 
thority on  India — ^that  wonderful  land  which  is 
moving  forward  so  rapidly  into  larger  and  more 
intimate  relations  with  the  world  of  our  day. 


Central  Committee  on  the  United  Study 
of  Foreign  Missions 

Missionary  Education  Movement  of  the 
United  States  and  Canada 


PREFACE 

It  would  be  possible  for  us  to  approach  the  study 
of  India  as  a  strange,  elusive,  romantic  land,  and 
to  deepen  the  feeling  of  distance  by  calling  Indi- 
ans the  most  Oriental  of  all  Eastern  peoples.  Or  we 
might  think  of  them  as  our  worthy  relatives,  recall- 
ing the  way  in  which  the  ancestry  of  many  there  and 
here  go  back  to  a  common  Aryan  stock.  It  is  inter- 
esting to  be  reminded  that  it  was  in  a  great  adven- 
ture of  finding  another  route  to  the  fabled  riches  of 
India  that  Columbus  discovered  America.  It  might 
make  India  seem  closer  to  note  the  number  of  words 
that  she  has  given  to  us^  and  to  learn  that  our  so- 
called  Arabic  notation,  the  production  of  which  was 
a  most  important  achievement  for  the  race,  may 
more  properly  be  called  the  Babylonic-Hindu  nota- 
tion. 

It  will  be  more  profitable,  however,  to  stimulate 
our  imagination  until  we  habitually  see  all  other 
peoples  as  part  of  our  common  humanity,  inevitably 
linked  with  us  in  the  task  placed  before  the  human 
race  on  this  planet.  The  very  title  of  this  book  is 
intended  to  suggest  God's  constructive  cooperative 
enterprise — "for  we  are  laborers  together  with  God 

ye  are  God's  building."    We  shall  be  studying 

India ;  but  in  the  background  of  our  thought,  let  us 
try  to  keep  the  conception  of  a  better  world  wrought 
out  by  the  cooperation  of  men  of  different  races  as 
empowered  by  God. 


^Bungalow,  coolie,  punch,  cashmere,  calico,  madras,  khaki, 
almirah,  catechu,  deva,  ghee,  gambier,  lac,  nabob,  gharry,  etc. 


Preface 

What  more  stimulating  conception  can  we  have 
than  that  of  the  Kingdom — a  society  of  ever-devel- 
oping, creative,  cooperating  personalities.  Our 
vision  is  of  individuals,  changed  and  unified  through 
thoroughgoing  commitment  to  Jesus  Christ  and 
manifesting  through  Him,  both  singly  and  together, 
health,  joy,  power,  wisdom,  and  love.  Our  vision  is 
of  peoples  who  have  entered  into  their  birthright  as 
children  of  God,  some  working  in  the  world  of  physi- 
cal things  and  some  in  the  realm  of  ideas  and  ideals ; 
some  by  means  of  science  and  others  with  spiritual 
gifts;  but  all  in  conscious  fellowship  under  a 
cooperating,  purposing,  and  eternally  loving  Father. 

In  this  volume,  therefore,  let  us  think  of  India  as 
a  potential,  and  in  part  as  an  actual,  co-partner  in 
the  world-task.  There  are  six  simple  questions  we 
would  wish  to  ask  about  any  other  people  with 
whom  eventually  we  are  to  enter  into  Christian  co- 
operation. (1)  What  capacities,  what  attainments, 
what  helpful  heritage  do  they  bring  to  the  partner- 
ship? (2)  What  are  the  things  which  are  tempo- 
rarily keeping  them  from  their  best — ^their  handi- 
caps, their  needs?  (3)  What  are  they  striving  for, 
what  are  their  aspirations,  in  what  constructive  and 
helpful  ways  are  they  working  for  themselves  and 
for  others?  (4)  What  has  the  Church's  great  enter- 
prise known  as  missions  done  and  what  can  it  still 
do  in  cooperation  with  this  other  people  to  build  up 
a  better  land?  (5)  What  movements  or  conditions 
among  them  are  of  outstanding  significance  to  the 
Kingdom?  (6)  What  is  the  extent  to  which  the 
Christian  spirit  and  force  have  become  organized 
and  naturalized  in  the  land?    For,  revolutionary  as 


Preface 

it  has  been  for  missionary  thinking  both  at  home 
and  abroad,  forward-looking  Christian  thought  is 
now  for  the  most  part  whole-heartedly  accepting  the 
central  importance  of  the  native  Church.  These, 
then,  are  the  questions  which  the  six  chapters  of 
this  book  attempt  to  answer  in  regard  to  India. 

D.  J.  F. 

New  York  City 
January 
1922  . 


CHAPTER  ONE 

India's  Heritage 

Whatsoever  things  are  true,  whatsoever  things 
are  honorable,  whatsoever  things  are  just,  whatso- 
ever things  are  pure,  whatsoever  things  are  lovely, 
whatsoever  things  are  of  good  report;  if  there  be 
any  virtue,  and  if  there  be  any  praise,  think  on 
these  things. 

I 

Those  who  know  India  and  have  spent  years  in 
close  friendship  with  her  people  delight  to  witness 
to  certain  characteristics  of  land  and  folk  which  de- 
serve high  appreciation. 

The  land  itself  has  elements  of  great  charm. 
There  are  the  magnificent  Himalayas — abode  of 
eternal  snows.  Live  for  a  day  in  Darjeeling  with 
the  glory  of  the  peaks  of  Kinchenjanga  before  you, 
and  your  conception  of  sublimity  will  have  forever 
found  its  concrete  expression.  Spend  a  summer  in 
the  Vale  of  Kashmir,  and  in  memory  it  will  tower 
above  every  Western  resort.  Walk  forty  miles  into 
the  Himalayas  beyond  Simla  to  the  forest  road  of 
Baghi  and  let  the  charm  of  its  mountain  ferns  and 
trees  and  torrents  sink  in  upon  you.  Take  the 
back-water  route  along  the  coast  of  Malabar  where, 
as  you  are  poled  along  through  over-shadowing 
palms,  you  can  hear  the  surf  of  the  ocean  less  than  a 
mile  away.  Motor  along  the  British  roadways 
densely  overarched  with  India's  brilliantly  flowering 
trees.    Look  across  the  green  fields  of  North  India 

1 


2  Building  with  India 

on  a  cool  December  morning.  The  oxen  are  busy  at 
the  creaking  Persian  wheels,  causing  streams  of 
water  to  flow  along  countless  channels  on  their  life- 
giving  way.  The  song  of  men  at  labor  can  be  heard, 
and  the  graceful  poise  of  the  women  bearing  aloft 
their  water-pots  catches  the  eye  at  a  distance.  Live 
in  the  open  on  far-stretching  plains,  beneath 
clear  skies,  in  an  environment  of  simple  people  who 
give  you  their  warm  affection,  with  work  that  you 
know  is  worth  while  and  for  lasting  good,  then  you 
will  forget  the  monotony  and  wearisomeness  and 
languor  of  the  hot  weather  and  the  irritations  and 
long  separations  that  are  inevitable  for  a  Westerner 
in  India. 
^^  Drop  into  a  well-stocked  library  and  give  yourself 
the  pleasure  of  looking  into  books  on  Indian  archi- 
tecture. You  will  find  that  Hindu  India  has  its  three 
distinct  styles  of  temple  structure.  There  will  be 
illustrations,  also,  of  the  great  Muhammadan  build- 
ings. You  will  see  pictures  of  the  lace-like  marble 
screen-work  in  the  fort  at  Delhi,  and  of  the  ex- 
quisite marble  buildings  inlaid  with  precious  stones 
that  make  the  eleven  mile  drive  from  Delhi  to  the 
Kutb  Minar  one  of  the  notable  roadways  of  the 
world.  At  Bijapur  is  a  Moghul  tomb  which  dates 
back  to  the  seventh  century,  with  a  dome  as  large  as 
that  of  the  Pantheon  at  Rome.  Experts  say  that 
it  is  artistically  one  of  the  most  beautiful  forms  of 
roof  yet  invented,  and  it  is  constructed  entirely 
on  Indian  principles  unknown  at  that  time  in 
Europe.  From  the  standpoint  of  one  interested  in 
architectural  creativeness,  India  has  a  wealth  of 
tombs  and  temples  and  mosques.    If  she  had  no 


India's  Heritage  3 

other  basis  of  distinction,  travelers  would  refuse  to 
pass  her  by. 

A  study  of  India's  handicrafts  opens  up  a  fairy 
world  of  beauty.  In  the  seventeenth  century  India 
was  the  world's  chief  center  for  the  finer  textiles, 
and  contemporaneous  writers  described  her  cottons 
and  linens  as  diaphanous  mist  dyed  with  the  rain- 
bow. Chiseled  ivory,  miniature  painting,  wood  carv- 
ing, beautiful  forms  in  metals  with  inlaid  designs 
reveal  a  skill  that  has  been  cultivated  throughout 
the  years.  In  the  best  shops  one  can  see  carpets  and 
embroideries  of  exquisite  pattern  and  gorgeous 
coloring,  curtains,  shawls,  and  muslins  worthy  of 
a  land  that  for  centuries  led  the  world  in  weaving. 
Each  large  area  has  a  standardization  in  dress  that 
is  worthy  of  commendation,  and  the  women  have 
worked  out  ways  of  draping  themselves  that  are  very 
becoming  and  often  truly  beautiful,  combining  sim- 
plicity and  economy  to  a  remarkable  degree.  Many 
of  the  high-caste  women  do  exquisite  embroidery 
and  applique  work  and  take  a  pride  in  showing  bril- 
liant and  dexterous  handiwork  in  gold  and  silver 
thread.  An  appreciation  of  India's  art,  like  the 
knowledge  of  her  language,  is  one  means  of  gaining 
insight  into  her  way  of  seeing  and  thinking.  Many 
of  our  homes  contain  treasured  brass  or  wood  or 
rug — silent  witnesses  to  India's  contribution  to  the 
beauty  of  the  world. 

II 

In  the  West  we  usually  regard  literacy  as  an  es- 
sential of  culture.  It  is  a  surprise,  therefore,  to  one 
who  has  heard  about  the  ninety-four  per  cent  in  In- 


l 


4  Building  with  India 

dia  who  cannot  read  and  write,  to  find  that  often  an 
illiterate  villager  can  repeat  some  of  the  finest  de- 
votional poems  and  songs  of  India's  religious  teach- 
ers. Knowledge  of  India's  classic  heroes  and  hero- 
ines is  common.  How  do  the  people  acquire  this 
culture? 

One  way  by  which  Indians  come  into  possession  of 
their  classical  heritage  is  through  music,  of  which 
they  are  passionately  fond.  All  over  India  music 
has  a  great  part  in  the  joy  of  life  and  in  the  ex- 
pression of  religious  devotion.  From  dark  to  dawn 
they  will  listen  with  rapture  to  good  singing.  In 
this  way  the  sweet  and  beautiful  songs  of  the  Gita 
Govinda  have  become  an  inseparable  part  of  the 
heritage  of  Bengal,  and  the  Tamil  singer-preachers 
have  made  their  tender  lyrics  of  the  soul's  devotion 
an  integral  part  of  the  religious  life  of  the  south. 
In  medieval  days  it  was  lyrical  evangelists  who 
taught  the  new  ideals  of  the  bhakti^  revival  to  the 
common  people  through  songs. 

Indian  music  presents  one  of  the  most  highly  de- 
veloped systems  of  music  in  the  world.  It  is  very 
:  different  from  Western  systems  in  its  exclusion  of 
harmony  and  in  its  development  of  the  variations 
and  grace  of  melody,  in  the  intricate  and  elaborate 
time  measures  and  the  importance  given  to  the 
drum-beat,  and  in  the  way  each  raga  (melody-form) 
iis  associated  with  a  particular  period  of  the  day  or 
night  and  often  with  a  particular  season  of  the  year. 
i  Some  Christian  missions  have  depended  on  transla- 
tions of  Western  hymns  set  to  Western  music.  But 
Western  music  can  never  win  the  heart  of  India. 


*The  devotional  branch  of  Hinduism. 


India's  Heritage  5 

Far  wiser  have  been  those  who  have  entered  the 
open  door  into  the  hearts  of  India  through  lyrical 
evangelism  designed  after  indigenous  models. 
Where  this  has  been  done,  people  sit  listening  for 
hours  to  the  Christian  message  thus  presented.  The 
singer-preacher,  aided  by  hand  cymbals,  drums, 
drone,  and  possibly  a  stringed  instrument,  unfolds 
some  Bible  story,  chanting  the  prose  exposition 
and  every  now  and  then  breaking  forth  into  one  of 
the  chain  of  songs  that  develops  the  various  inci- 
dents of  the  theme.  Already  there  is  the  distinct 
promise  that  India  with  its  passion  for  song  will 
some  day  give  rise  to  a  new  development  in  hym- 
nology  for  the  Christian  Church. 

A  second  way  in  which  the  people  of  India  ac- 
quire classical  culture  without  literacy  is  through 
the  greatly  developed  art  of  story-telling  and  dra- 
matic expression.  The  professional  story-teller  in 
India  continues  to  this  day  to  occupy  a  place  of  the 
highest  importance  in  popular  life.  His  visit  to  a 
village  or  a  town  becomes  a  matter  of  absorbing  in- 
terest. For  several  nights  in  succession  he  holds  his 
audiences  spellbound  long  after  midnight,  while  he 
relates  the  tales  of  their  two  national  epics — ^the 
Mahabharata  and  Ramayana.  The  power  of  mem- 
ory quite  surpassing  anything  we  develop  in  a  liter- 
ate land,  the  faculty  of  dramatic  expression,  and 
the  elegant  diction  contribute  to  the  fascination  of 
these  times  of  joy  in  the  simple  village  life.  More- 
over, the  folk-lore  known  by  some  of  the  women  is 
often  quite  astonishing.  The  inimitable  stories  of 
the  Bible,  when  once  learned,  are  told  and  retold 
through  the  villages  for  many  a  day. 


6  Building  with  India 

III 

Stored  up  in  Sanskrit,  Pali,  and  Prakrit  texts  is 
another  great  element  in  India's  heritage.  Her  litera- 
ture, extending  back  to  1500  B.  C,  is  of  very  un- 
equal quality,  but  contains  occasional  material  of 
high  value  and  of  extreme  interest.  Every  Indian 
is  proud  of  this  classic  literature.  Apart  from  the 
four  Vedas,  the  Brahmanas,  Sutras,  Upanishads, 
and  the  two  great  epics — ^the  Ramayana  and  the 
Mahabharata — and  other  classic  books,  there  is  a 
wealth  of  vernacular  poetry.  This  has  been  sung 
into  the  heart  of  the  people  for  many  generations 
like  some  of  our  own  great  hymns. 

A  knowledge  of  this  religious  poetry  of  the  ver- 
naculars, even  more  than  that  of  the  classic  books, 
will  give  the  Indian  Church  a  hold  on  the  people. 
This  vernacular  poetry  is  not  always  noble  and 
fine;  much  of  it  is  saturated  with  uncleanness;  it 
is  all  steeped  in  the  popular  beliefs  and  superstitious 
practices  of  Hinduism.  Yet  here  and  there  it  rises 
to  great  excellence  from  the  point  of  view  of  lan- 
guage and  literature,  and  some  portions  are  good 
both  morally  and  religiously.  To  every  note  of  it, 
the  popular  heart  responds.  Since  in  a  peculiar  way 
poetry  is  the  avenue  for  truth  in  India,  we  are  to  be 
thankful  for  the  growing  hymnology  of  the  Church. 

IV 

Another  gift  possessed  by  India  is  her  power  of 
contemplation.  Her  spiritual  instinct  makes  it  natu- 
ral for  many  of  her  most  earnest  souls  to  meditate 
hour  after  hour.  Who  knows  but  that  India's  devo- 
tional emphasis  may  be  a  corrective  to  our  overstress 


India's  Heritage  7 

on  activity?  When,  eager  for  India's  good,  we  at- 
tempt to  stimulate  her  to  Western  standards  of 
expedition  through  inculcating  business  and  effi- 
ciency methods,  should  we  not  be  solicitous  lest 
the  talent  already  there  be  lost?  The  two  ideals  of  /  |  j 
meditation  and  of  vigorous  action  should  supplement  \  I  i 
one  another. 

Akin  to  this  genius  for  meditation  is  India's 
philosophic  temperament.  Throughout  the  centuries 
the  Hindu  mind  has  turned  its  attention,  not  to 
science  or  to  history,  but  pre-eminently  to  a  long 
continued  wrestling  with  the  most  serious  problems 
of  the  intellect  and  spirit.  Hinduism  itself  has  six 
orthodox  systems  of  philosophy,  and  Jainism,  one. 
Hinduism's  greatest  philosophic  achievement  is  the 
realization  of  the  unity  underlying  diversity.  For 
many  centuries  India  was  the  university  of  Asia,  as 
Greece  once  was  that  of  Europe.  Many  are  looking 
forward  to  the  time  when  the  Indian  Church  shall 
have  developed  a  theological  literature  of  its  own, 
with  the  hope  that  the  natural  set  or  bias  of  the 
Eastern  mind  will  enable  it  to  make  invaluable  con- 
tributions toward  the  philosophical  interpretation 
of  our  Christian  faith.  In  thinking  of  world 
growth,  let  us  be  not  oblivious  to  the  present  and  po- 
tential reservoirs  of  intellectual  power  in  the  Aryan 
mind  of  India.  India's  heritage  of  thinking — not 
merely  of  thought,  but  of  thought  power — may  be 
one  of  India's  greatest  gifts  to  the  world. 

V 

India's  capacity  for  renunciation  stands  out 
among  her  attributes.     She  instinctively  gives  the 


8  Building  with  India 

tribute  of  her  admiration  to  one  who  manifestly 
places  things  «f  the  spirit  above  things  of  the  flesh, 
J  and  one  may  doubt  whether  a  religious  type  that 
does  not  markedly  show  renunciation  of  the  world 
will  ever  appeal  to  her.  Queen  Gandhari,  feeling 
that  no  wife  should  enjoy  a  privilege  which  is  denied 
her  husband,  goes  happily  blindfolded  throughout 
her  married  life,  in  order  to  share  the  misfortune  of 
her  blind  husband.  Sita  voluntarily  sets  out  with 
her  husband  to  encounter  the  dangers  and  priva- 
tions of  the  jungle  when  he  is  exiled  for  fourteen 
years  from  his  royal  home.  There  is  scarcely  a 
Hindu  woman  throughout  the  length  and  breadth  of 
India  to  whom  the  story  of  the  suffering  Sita  is 
not  known  and  to  whom  her  character  is  not  a  model. 
All  over  India  you  will  meet  wandering  sadhus 
(monks  or  friars).  Clad  in  simple,  saffron  cloths, 
and  with  little  more  than  beggar's  bowls,  tongs, 
and  skins  on  which  to  sit  and  meditate,  they  go  from 
sacred  place  to  sacred  place.  According  to  their  sys- 
tem, every  Brahman  should  leave  work  and  family 
at  fifty  years  of  age  and  should  spend  the  rest  of  his 
life  in  meditation.  Take  twenty  minutes  to  read 
Kipling's  story  of  "The  Miracle  of  Purun  Bhagat" ; 
in  the  Second  Jungle  Book,  and  you  will  never  for- 
get this  ingrained  aspect  of  India's  ideal. 

It  should  be  noted  that  while  a  sadhu  at  his  best 
embodies  a  very  prevalent  Hindu  belief  that  the  life 
of  the  spirit  is  beyond  all  comparison  more  impor- 
tant and  real  than  that  of  the  flesh,  it  is  an  entirely 
self-centered  life.  India's  holy  men  do  not  seek  to 
serve  others.  By  very  theory  they  can  have  no  re- 
sponsibility for  other  men  and  women.    Moreover,  a 


India's  Heritage  9 

large  proportion  of  India's  sadhus  are  sturdy  beg- 
gars devoid  of  spirituality  or  devotion  who  cover  up 
a  life  of  laziness  or  fraud  with  the  insignia  of  pre- 
sumptive saintliness.     Many  stupify  themselves  by 
the  use  of  hemp,  thus  giving  the  appearance  of  in- 
difference to  things  of  sense.     It  is  only  a  small 
minority  of  the  mendicants  who  have  high  stand-  . 
ards  of  spiritual  life,  but  these  so  take  the  imagina- 1 
tion  of  India  that  in  her  eyes  the  sadhu's  begging  ] 
bowl  is  more  the  mark  of  a  saint  than  of  a  beggar. 

Sadhus  often  seen  by  tourists,  a  limited  type, 
manifest  their  renunciation  in  spectacular  ways — 
burying  themselves  up  to  their  noses  in  the  ground, 
lying  on  spikes,  measuring  their  length  prostrate  on 
the  ground  for  miles  to  some  temple,  letting  water 
drip  on  their  heads  while  they  are  parched  with 
thirst,  sitting  between  four  fires  with  India's  sun 
burning  down  upon  them,  or  running  spiked  wires 
through  their  flesh.  On  the  merely  physical  plane 
Indian  asceticism  cannot  be  surpassed.  It  is  a  sad 
story  and  we  may  not  approve  the  form,  but  what  a 
capacity  for  self-abnegation  India  presents!  Down  -'' 
under  these  ofttimes  revolting  sights  there  is  not 
infrequently  something  noble — ^the  readiness  to  \ 
mortify  the  flesh  for  the  sake  of  the  spirit. 

The  ideal  of  "detachment"  is  an  integral  part  of 
the  spirit  of  India.  One  of  her  most  popular  scrip- 
tures says :  "Thy  business  is  with  action  only,  never 
with  its  fruits ;  so  let  not  the  fruit  of  action  be  thy 
motive,  nor  be  thou  to  inaction  attached.  Perform 
action,  0  Dhananjaya,  in  union  with  the  Divine,  re- 
nouncing attachments,  and  evenly  balanced  in  sue-  I 
cess  and  failure Pitiable  are  they  who  work  for 


10  Building  with  India 

fruit. "^  This  ideal  of  detachment  from  mere  things 
has  sunk  into  their  subconscious  selves.  Surely 
there  is  something  here  to  build  upon  by  Him  who 
said  that  His  Kingdom  was  not  of  this  world.  En- 
riched and  rightly  related  to  the  Christian  ideal  and 
dynamic,  this  deeply  founded  capacity  for  renun- 
ciation and  detachment  may  yet  furnish  the  West  a 
corrective  for  our  far  too  great  commitment  to  ma- 
terialistic aims  and  for  our  tendency  to  appraise 
success  by  monetary  standards  and  by  the  ability  to 
command  luxury  and  the  facilities  for  self-indul- 
gence which  money  brings. 

VI 

India's  most  distinctive  heritage  is  her  religious 
consciousness.  Here  one  comes  very  near  the  heart 
of  India.  It  is  exceedingly  difficult  to  express  the 
precise  sense  in  which  it  can  be  said  that  Hindus 
have  a  special  aptitude  for  spiritual  things.  Cer- 
tainly it  does  not  mean  what  Jesus  meant  when  He 
spoke  of  worshiping  God  "in  spirit  and  in  truth." 
But  taking  religion  as  a  conscious  relation  between 
man  and  the  supernatural  and  the  acknowledgment 
of  that  relation  in  human  conduct,  India  is  unques- 
tionably religious.  From  before  birth  until  after 
death,  the  Hindu's  life  is  full  of  sacramental  obser- 
vances. 

Numerous  shrines  draw  crowds  of  pilgrims.  As 
many  as  two  million  gather  at  the  Kumbh  Mela, 
near  Allahabad — almost  one  out  of  every  hundred 
and  sixty  of  the  total  population.  In  any  orthodox 
Hindu  home  there  is  the  daily  worship  of  the  fa- 

*The  Bhagavad  Gita,  II :  47-49. 


India's  Heritage  ii 

vorite  deity  in  the  temple-room  of  the  house  or  be- 
fore the  niche  kept  for  images.  ^  ^ 

It  is  because  India  beyond  any  other  nation  has  ^  t 
this  quest  for  inner  peace  that  she  makes  a  unique  •  ""^^ 
appeal  to  us  to  share  with  her  the  highest  that  we '  'i.^- 
know.  Her  whole  life  is  the  expression  of  an  un- 
satisfied desire.  Suppose  you  were  sending  a  sower 
forth  to  sow;  just  what  would  you  consider  good 
soil?  Would  you  choose  to  plant,  if  possible,  some 
seed  in  a  certain  advanced  Hindu  school  where  a 
whole  morning  is  set  aside  for  the  teaching  of  re- 
ligion ;  to  which  each  little  girl  brings  her  idol-bas- 
ket, with  some  clay,  flowers,  and  sandal  paste; 
where  lights  are  lit,  incense  burned,  the  right  atti- 
tude of  meditation  taught,  and  where  the  children 
are  shown  how  to  make  and  then  how  to  worship 
the  image?  Or  would  you  prefer  hard  and  material- 
istic soil?  I  shall  never  forget  the  pathetically  ear- 
nest faces  of  the  women  as  they  come  one  by  one  to 
the  temples  with  their  offerings  of  rice  and  water, 
bedeck  their  idol  with  flowers,  and  circle  round  it 
saying,  "Ram,  Ram,  Sita  Ram!  Ram,  Ram,  Sita 
Ram !"  Why  should  not  their  manifest  capacity  for 
religious  devotion  be  related  to  the  great  Satisfier? 
To  us  should  come  the  overpowering  impulse  to 
say  to  such,  "Whom  ye  ignorantly  worship,  him  de- 
clare I  unto  you."  Although  much  of  the  worship  of\ 
popular  Hinduism  is  propitiation  of  deities  by  ma-: 
terial  means  for  material  ends,  it  is  very  clear  toi 
those  working  among  the  people  that  their  hearts; 
are  unsatisfied  by  these  things.  The  long  pil-' 
grimages,  the  self-imposecj  fastings  and  penances 
are  signs  of  a  restlessness  of  soul  which,  like  some- 


12  Building  with  India 

Chandra  Lela  or  Pandita  Ramabai/  spends  weary- 
years  in  following  every  known  way  to  obtain  inner 
peace. 

With    such    an    unquenched    desire    continuing 
I   through  the  centuries,  it  is  not  surprising  that  In- 
\  dia  has  become  the  motherland  of  a  greater  number 
\  of  living,  organized,  influential  religions  than  any 
other  country  in  the  world.    She  has  produced  re- 
ligions rather  than  accepted  them.  Accordingly,  any 
/  adequate  understanding  of  India  requires  a  philo- 
sophic and  religious  interpretation.    India's  search 
has  been  embodied  mainly  in  three  great  religions — 
Hinduism,  Jainism,  and  Buddhism — whose  follow- 
ers comprise  over  one  fifth  of  the  human  race. 

We  believe  that  "there  was  the  true  light,  even 
the  light  which  lighteth  every  man,  coming  into  the 
world,"  and  that  God  has  "suffered  all  the  nations 
to  walk  in  their  own  ways,  and  yet  he  left  not  him- 
self without  witness."  We  are,  therefore,  not  sur- 
prised to  find  a  certain  reality  and  rich  variety  of 
experience  in  India's  religious  leaders,  and  positive 
values  in  certain  elements  of  Hindu  thought,  litera- 
ture, and  practice  which  challenge  respect  and  most 
careful  constructive  appraisal.  We  remember  how 
Jesus,  even  in  the  face  of  Jewish  pride  and  conceit, 
was  able  to  see  God's  dealings  with  the  widow  of  Za- 
rephath,  Naaman  the  Syrian,  the  Roman  centurion, 
and  illustrated  the  principle  in  the  parable  of  the 
good  Samaritan.  In  like  manner  we  should  not  hesi- 
tate to  acknowledge  good  wherever  it  is  found.  The 
greater  the  effort  to  understand,  the  more  purpose- 


*The  biographies  of  these  t^Vo  Christian  women  give  a  fine 
insight  into  what  Hinduism  is.     See  Bibliography. 


India's  Heritage  13 

ful  the  determination  to  discover  what  values  have 
emerged  in  India's  age-long  quest  for  the  Divine, 
the  more  positive  becomes  the  assurance  that  the 
coming  of  the  Christ  to  India,  while  supplanting 
many  things,  will,  on  the  other  hand,  enrich  and  ful- 
fil many  others. 

Gautama  Buddha  and  Asoka  embody  kindliness 
and  tolerance;  Ramanuja  and  Ramanand  worked 
out  a  distinct  theism ;  Kabir,  Nanak,  and  Chaitanya 
stand  out  for  devotion;  and  Tulsi  Das  and  Tuka 
Ram  for  simple  piety.  Poems  like  the  two  follow- 
ing'^ which  have  come  down  for  three  hundred  years 
from  Tuka  Ram  are  frequent  in  the  bhakti  (devo- 
tional) school. 

The  Only  Refuge 

I  am  a  mass  of  sin; 

Thou  art  all  purity; 
Yet  thou  must  take  me  as  I  am 

And  bear  my  load  for  me. 

Me  Death  has  all  consumed; 

In  thee  all  power  abides. 
All  else  forsaking,  at  thy  feet 

Thy  servant  Tuka  hides. 

He  Knows  Our  Need 

Unwearied  he  bears  up  the  universe; 

How  light  a  burden  I! 
Does  not  his  care  the  frog  within  the  stone 

With  food  supply? 

The  bird,  the  creeping  thing  lays  up  no  store; 

This  great  One  knows  their  need. 
And  if  I,  Tuka,  cast  on  him  my  load. 

Will  not  his  mercy  heed? 


^Psalms  of  Maratha  Saints,  Nicol  Macnicol,  pp.  65,  74. 


14  Building  with  India 

That  the  last  two  elements  in  India's  heritage  are 
really  operative  in  these  days  is  strikingly  evidenced 
in  the  remarkable  and  widespread  influence  which 
has  been  wielded  by  Mahatma  Gandhi.  It  has  been 
his  life  of  renunciation  and  sacrifice  and  his  deep 
religious  nature  that  have  fired  India's  imagination. 
In  what  other  land  has  a  political  leader  found  such 
characteristics  his  deepest  source  of  power? 

In  granting  him  leadership,  India  was  un- 
doubtedly moved  by  the  fact  that  Gandhi  cared 
nothing  for  sensual  pleasures,  nothing  for  riches, 
nothing  for  comfort  or  praise  or  promotion.  Coming 
from  a  well-to-do  family,  he  has  lived  on  a  most 
meager  allowance.  To  the  West  he  would  seem 
ascetic,  weighing  less  than  one  hundred  pounds, 
living  on  fruits,  vegetables,  and  rice,  eating  no 
sweets  or  spices,  dressing  like  a  poor  man  in  home- 
spun, and  traveling  third  class.  Before  taking  up 
the  leadership  of  India's  demand  for  home  rule,  he 
had  already  endeared  himself  to  the  people  by  the 
heroism  and  prolonged  self-sacrifice  with  which  in 
South  Africa  he  used  passive  resistance  to  win  a 
battle  for  the  rights  of  Indian  indentured  labor.  In 
the  course  of  the  struggle,  he  and  his  wife  and  chil- 
dren were  imprisoned,  and  he  was  forcibly  fed.  To 
the  Indian,  this  gaunt,  wan  figure  is  a  saint.  He 
gave  up  his  law  practice  in  Bombay  because  of  his 
religion.  In  Calcutta  he  told  an  audience  that  the 
Indian  people  feared  guns,  religious  legalists,  and 
government  oflficials  more  than  they  feared  God,  and 
that  unless  they  gave  up  that  fear  and  made  religion 
the  foundation  of  life,  individual  and  national,  they 
would  never  be  fit  for  self-government. 


India's  Heritage  15 

He  has  been  greatly  influenced  by  Christianity  in 
his  methods  and  message.  He  has  been  an  earnest 
student  of  the  Bible  and  at  one  time  contemplated 
becoming  a  Christian.  But  there  is  a  background  in 
conformity  with  Indian  ideals  to  such  an  extent  that 
the  people  spontaneously  call  Gandhi,  "Mahatma" 
or  "Great-Souled  One."  Mistaken  as  he  has  been  in 
many  things,  there  is  suggestion  for  Christian 
workers  in  this  life  which  embodies  so  much  of  In- 
dia's characteristic  heritage  and  yet  adds  other  ele- 
ments deemed  helpful  for  India's  welfare.  It  isl 
noteworthy  that  all  India  reveres  Gandhi  the} 
patriot-saint,  even  when  all  India  does  not  follow! 
Gandhi  the  politician.  Reference  is  made  later  to 
Gandhi's  political  methods.  These  are  thoroughly 
repudiated  by  many  who  would  be  willing  to  admit 
certain  elements  of  strength  in  his  popularity. 

VII 

To  India's  heritage  of  other  days  must  be  added 
her  present-day  throbbing  spirit  of  nationalism. 
The  average  Indian  has  a  far  longer  time  perspec- 
tive than  we  have.  An  American  feels  that  he  is 
getting  pretty  close  to  the  beginning  of  his  country's 
history  as  he  visits  certain  revolutionary  sites  about 
Boston.  But  the  Indian  has  a  literature  and  culture 
that  go  back  over  thirty  times  as  far.  He  can  sweep 
back  over  the  whole  of  English  history  and  point  to 
Indian  monarchs  and  sages  two  thousand  years  be- 
fore our  ancestors  ceased  to  be  cavemen  and  lake- 
dwellers,  the  source  of  those  who  Cicero  says  were 
the  stupidest  and  ugliest  slaves  brought  to  Rome. 

He  knows  that  India's  culture  grew  up  from  its 


1 6  Building  with  India 

own  roots  with  a  character  of  its  own,  since  vast 
mountain  barriers  and  an  untraveled  sea  almost 
wholly  shut  India  off  from  the  West.  He  knows  that 
this  culture  had  a  distinct  effect  on  China,  and  that 
Buddhism  indirectly  from  India  gave  a  great  im- 
petus to  Japanese  civilization.  Even  yet  a  traveler 
constantly  finds  reminders  of  Indian  architecture, 
sculpture,  painting,  and  worship  in  Ceylon,  Burma, 
Tibet,  and  Siam,  as  well  as  in  China  and  Japan.  In 
these  days  we  Westerners  behold  our  civilization 
taken  up  by  one  people  after  another ;  but  the  Indian 
i  cherishes  the  memory  of  a  golden  age  when  Indian 
I  culture  went  forth  as  a  fertilizing  influence,  giving 
form  and  color  to  the  thought  of  Asia. 

The  modern  Indian  looks  at  other  nations,  but  he 
is  not  envious.  He  is  thankful  that  he  was  born  in 
India  and  has  a  share  in  her  peculiar  genius.  He 
talks  about  an  ancient  culture  that  has  maintained 
its  progress  unbroken  for  thirty  centuries.  He  feels 
that  his  land  possesses  a  common  tradition  to  be 
found  in  song  and  legend,  great  personalities  that 
embody  the  character  and  ideals  of  the  nation,  and 
sacred  places  where  the  national  memory  is  en- 
shrined. He  claims  that  Japan  and  China  accepted 
light  from  India  because  she  was  engrossed,  not  in 
obtaining  physical  power,  but  in  following  essen- 
tial spiritual  purpose.  Sometimes  this  spirit  has 
gone  too  far  in  glorifying  every  element  in  the  past. 
Some  political  extremists,  after  detailing  what  they 
consider  the  humiliating  mortifications  of  the  pres- 
ent, have  pictured  the  exaggerated  glories  of  the 
f  past  and  thus  have  evolved  an  unhistorical  India. 
But  Indian  nationalism  does  hot  look  wholly  to 


India's  Heritage  17 

the  past.  India  realizes  that  in  the  World  War 
she  sent  out  one  hundred  thousand  more  soldiers 
than  Australia,  New  Zealand,  and  Canada  com- 
bined, and  that  the  tracks,  rolling-stock,  engines, 
coal,  and  staff  for  the  strategic  railways  in  Mesopo- 
tamia came  from  her  supply.  India  has  twenty-five 
times  as  much  arable  land  as  Japan,  though  the  yield 
per  acre  is  much  lower.  With  improved  methods  of 
farming,  India  can  supply  in  increasing  quantities 
the  products  which  the  world  needs.  At  some  places 
in  south  India  three  crops  of  rice  are  harvested 
from  the  same  land  in  a  single  year.  India  now 
leads  the  world  in  the  production  of  rice,  sugar-cane, 
tea,  jute,  and  shellac,  and  comes  second  in  cotton 
and  tobacco.  The  world's  lack  of  leather  and  paper 
can  be  partly  supplied  from  India's  potential  re- 
sources. There  is  a  distinct  revival  of  Indian  art  in 
Bengal  under  the  leadership  of  the  Indian  Society 
of  Oriental  Art.  An  annual  exhibition  is  held,  and 
a  whole  school  of  Indian  artists  finds  encouragement 
in  the  reception  given  to  their  work.  There  is, 
moreover,  considerable  talk  about  an  all-India  lan- 
guage, and  more  than  one  vernacular  has  its  cham- 
pion who  would  like  to  displace  English  with  a  fa- 
vorite Indian  tongue. 

The  Indian  will  admit  our  practical  bent,  our  in-' 
ventiveness,  our  wealth  and  luxury  and  power;  but 
he  refuses  to  be  dazzled  by  these  things  and  realizes 
that  India  surpasses  us  in  patience,  tact,  ingenuity, 
and  grasp  of  minute  detail.  He  believes  that,  al- 
though his  culture  may  lack  certain  qualities  which 
we  rank  high,  there  is  still  much  in  Indian  civiliza- 
tion that  is  good,  beautiful,  and  valuable,  and  which 


i8  Building  with  India 

can  supplement  other  cultures  of  the  world.  To  be 
sure,  Indians  are  different  from  us.  But  differences 
do  not  necessarily  imply  inferiority.    Certain  it  is 

<  that  the  Indian  is  not  conscious  of  any  drawback 
from  race,  nor  would  he  willingly  get  into  the  white 
man's  skin. 

The  modern  Indian  has  a  distinct  conviction  that 
India  has  her  own  individuality  that  must  find  ex- 
pression— her  own  mission  and  message  to  man- 
kind. He  wants  the  nations  to  recognize  India's 
right  and  capacity  to  exert  her  influence  in  the 
councils  of  the  world,  and  feels  assured  that  they 
will  ever  be  exerted  in  the  interests  of  peace  and 
good-will  toward  all  nations  and  peoples.  At  one  of 
the  early  meetings  of  the  League  of  Nations,  on 
whose  Assembly  India  is  represented,  the  Mahara- 

''  jah  of  Nawanagar,  speaking  for  the  Indian  princes, 
pledged  their  interest  in  the  creation  of  a  fund  to 
fight  typhus  although  this  disease  was  not  an  out- 
standing danger  in  India.  India,  as  a  member  of 
the  British  Empire,  had  her  representative  at  the 
recent  Limitation  of  Armament  Conference  in 
Washington.  In  India's  name,  this  representative 
placed  on  the  bier  of  America's  Unknown  Warrior 
a  wreath  bearing  the  beautiful  inscription,  "They 
never  die  who  die  to  make  life  worth  living." 

Not  alone  by  non-Christians  is  the  national  as- 
piration felt,  but  by  the  educated  section  of  the 

'  Christian  community.  It  too  is  insisting  that  India 
be  better  understood  and  respected.     A  Christian 

'  nationalist  will  admit  that  there  is  a  vast  amount 
in  India  which  is  inconsistent  with  the  spirit  of 
Christ  and  which,  therefore,  must  be  rooted  out; 


India's  Heritage  zg 

nevertheless  he  is  firm  in  a  conviction  that  India  has 
not  been  without  the  tutelage  of  the  great  Teacher 
of  Mankind,  and  moreover  is  being  disciplined  in 
peculiar  ways  for  some  great  purpose  in  God's 
world. 

VIII 

If  India  has  such  .a  heritage,  why  is  it,  then,  that 
while  many  tourists  treasure  for  a  lifetime  the  fas- 
cination of  their  glimpse  into  that  interesting  land, 
many  others  are  repelled  even  at  the  thought  of  In- 
dia? Manifestly  it  is  a  question  of  emphasis  in 
gtteotign.  Data  for  either  view  in  varying  degrees 
exist  in  any  country.  One  may  stand  breathless  be- 
fore the  marvelous  beauty  of  the  Taj  Mahal  while 
domes  and  minarets,  pierced  screens  and  inlaid  mar- 
ble make  their  exquisite  offering  to  the  eye.  Or  one| 
may  push  aside  the  impression  of  beauty  in  the  Taj 
and  become  absorbed  in  a  socio-economic  reflection 
— ^the  ugly  fact  of  enforced  labor  lasting  twenty 
years  under  the  whip  of  a  despotic  ruler.  It  is  pos- 
sible to  let  yourself  be  either  thrilled  or  puzzled  by 
the  fact  that  this  most  beautiful  mausoleum  ever 
erected  to  the  memory  of  womanhood  is  to  be  found 
in  India. 

Again,  as  one  views  the  massive  rock-cut  temples 
near  Bombay  and  Madras  or  the  exquisite  carving 
in  the  shrines  at  Mount  Abu,  one  may  yield  to  awe 
at  the  enormous  labor  involved  and  realize  that  in 
the  broadest  sense  India's  great  temples  stand  as 
monuments  of  the  religious  consciousness.  An  old, 
lowcaste  woman  was  once  asked  the  cost  of  a  temple 
in  process  of  building.    She  turned  to  the  mission- 


20  Building  with  India 

ary  in  surprise  and  said,  "We  don't  know.  It  is  for 
our  god.  We  don't  count  the  cost."  It  is  said  that 
sculpture  has  been  cultivated  more  than  painting  in 
India  since  it  offers  opportunity  for  a  more  labori- 
ous expression  of  religious  zeal.  Or  one  may  turn 
from  these  thoughts  and  be  dominated  by  the  re- 
flection that  the  builders  were  undoubtedly  stimu- 
lated by  the  principle  of  merit,  thinking  that  the 
more  labor  they  expended  on  pious  work,  the  more 
benefit  they  would  receive  from  the  gods. 

Similarly  there  are  two  attitudes  which  one  may 
take  toward  every  strange  and  backward  custom 
and  toward  the  expression  of  the  religious  life  of 
the  people.  A  real  question  arises  in  the  minds  of 
some  as  to  whether  the  best  way  to  win  a  great  peo- 
ple from  a  bad  custom  is  to  be  severely  condemna- 
tory in  our  judgment  or,  while  still  working  against 
it,  to  admit  the  angle  of  usefulness  which  has  en- 
abled it  to  live  through  the  centuries.  Should  we 
concentrate  our  attention  on  the  falsehood  in  a  non- 
Christian  religion  or  must  we  also  note  whatever  of 
truth  it  enshrines?  Would  we  feel  our  enthusiasm 
for  missions  endangered  if  less  emphasis  is  placed 
on  the  dark  views  of  the  social  and  moral  conditions 
of  other  lands  as  compared  with  our  own  or  have 
we  such  an  unshakable  conception  of  the  unique, 
priceless,  and  indispensable  value  in  Jesus  Christ 
that  we  fearlessly  look  at  the  very  best  a  non-Chris- 
tian system  can  present,  confident  that  only  through 
Him  is  the  life  more  abundant  to  come  to  the  throng- 
ing millions? 

Let  us  look  at  the  highest,  noblest  possible  inter- 
pretation of  an  ethnic  faith.    When  we  see  Christ 


ONE  OF   INDIA'S   GEMS   OP  ARCHITECTURE 

The  Jessamine  Tower  in  the  Fort,  Agra,  built  in  the  sev- 
enteenth century  by  the  Emperor  Shah  Jehan  who  also  built 
the  Taj  Mahal.  Note  the  three  types  of  decoration:  the 
pierced  marble  railings  and  screens  above  the  doors,  the 
marble  medallions  with  flowers  in  relief,  and,  on  the  flat 
surfaces,  the  inlay  work  consisting  of  semi-precious  stones 
and  black  marble. 


India's  Heritage  21 

towering  infinitely  above  even  this,  what  could  pro- 
vide a  surer  basis  for  the  cause  of  Christian  mis- 
sions? Some  day  the  grossest  social  and  moral  evils 
which  we  proverbially  associate  with  mission  lands 
may  have  disappeared,  for  against  many  of  them, 
leaders  who  do  not  yet  consciously  acknowledge  in- 
debtedness to  Jesus  Christ  are  even  now  manfully 
working.  If  that  day  comes,  the  missionary  motive 
will  still  be  keen  and  absorbing.  Men  and  women  will 
still  need  the  Christ.  Anyone  with  a  spark  of  love 
must  yearn  to  alleviate  in  some  way  the  grievous 
needs  which  of  necessity  protrude  Into  every  chap- 
ter of  this  book.  But  if  India  had  no  record  of 
wasting  sickness,  grinding  poverty,  and  dwarfing 
illiteracy,  an  inward  sense  of  inevitable  failure  and 
worthlessness  apart  from  Christ  would  move  us  by 
the  most  powerful  missionary  motive.  The  unmis- 
takable need  may  lead  us  on,  but  the  necessary 
Christ  is  the  motive  that  abides  and  sustains. 

We  should  be  very  careful  that  we  do  not  sustain 
interest  in  missions  at  the  cost  of  international  re- 
spect and  good-will.  The  growth  of  nationalism  has 
made  India  sensitive.  Educated,  English-reading 
Indians,  both  Christian  and  non-Christian,  are 
quick  to  resent  any  appeal  that  is  judged  unfair  or 
unproportioned,  and  to  give  publicity  to  their  re- 
sentment in  their  public  press.  The  world  is  so  small 
that  we  might  well  imagine  an  intelligent  Hindu 
present  at  every  missionary  meeting.  The  whole- 
someness  of  the  atmosphere  in  which  we  do  our 
work  abroad  depends  in  part  upon  the  way  we  pre- 
sent the  cause  of  missions  in  the  West.  In  stimu- 
lating the  missionary  purpose,  we  must  lay  stress 


^uii^^f^t 


22  -^-"'^^  ^uildflir^'th  India 


not  alone  upon  facts  which  will  stir  the  emotion  of 
pity,  but  upon  those  which  will  give  a  proportioned 
view  and  which  are  set  forth  in  such  a  spirit  as 
would  enlist  our  approval  if  others  used  it  in  ap- 
praising our  people  and  civilization. 

The  careful  presentation  in  its  proper  perspective 
of  the  good  in  non-Christian  religions  does  much  to 
cut  the  ground  from  under  the  parlor  groups  that 
grow  enthusiastic  over  Oriental  cults — an  occasional 
fad  for  city  women.  It  is  easy  to  see  how  these 
cults  gained  their  influence.  The  nineteenth  cen- 
tury, among  other  things,  resulted  in  two  great  ad- 
vances. One  was  a  vision  of  the  vast  moral  and  so- 
cial needs  in  non-Christian  lands.  The  Christian 
Church  was  filled  with  compassion  for  what  were 
— and  are — unquestioned  and  grievous  evils.  It  often 
became  so  absorbed  and  preoccupied  in  its  minis- 
try to  these  needs  that  a  country  like  India  became 
associated  only  with  idols,  pestilence,  famine,  dis- 
ease, and  illiterate  crowds  sunk  in  animal  worship 
and  quite  devoid  of  culture  and  civilization. 

The  other  insight,  coming  from  a  great  company 
of  scholarly  Orientalists — missionaries,  traders, 
travelers,  and  anthropologists — resulted  in  an  un- 
precedented increase  in  the  accurate  knowledge  of 
the  religions  of  the  world.  The  Theosophical  Society 
assumed  a  generous  attitude  to  the  ethnic  faiths 
and  invited  people  to  join  in  the  study  of  these  re- 
ligions in  a  friendly,  appreciative  way.  It  is  this  at- 
titude of  sympathy  which  has  drawn  most  of  the  in- 
tellectual men  and  women  who  have  been  attracted 
to  this  society. 

Now  scholars  tell  us  that  the  bulk  of  the  work  that 


India's  Heritage  23 

the  Theosophists  have  done  in  the  exposition  of  re- 
ligion is  unscientific  and  misleading.^  Yet  we  have 
to  acknowledge  that  they  have  attempted  to  do  in 
a  wrong  way  what  the  Church  ought  to  have  done 
in  a  right  way.  It  is  the  unexpected  discovery  that, 
there  are  precious  gems  in  non-Christian  faiths  that]' 
causes  the  uninformed  to  suspect  that  there  are  un- 
worked  mines  of  spiritual  wealth  in  these  religions. 
They  are  thus  lured  away  to  some  popular  cult.  Pos- 
sibly fewer  would  have  been  captivated  if  we  had 
been  less  preoccupied  with  needs,  and  if,  while  stat- 
ing that  ninety-nine  Vedic  hymns  quite  fail  to 
arouse  our  interest  and  appreciation,  we  had  also 
taught  that  the  hundredth  is  well  worth  re-reading. 
India  has  inadequately  understood  the  Reality  she 
has  been  seeking  and  has,  therefore,  lacked  ethical  f 
dynamic;  nevertheless,  we  should  not  fail  to  ac- 
knowledge that  facts  and  literature  prove  that  In-; 
dia's  consciousness  of  the  Unseen  is  very  strong  in- ' 
deed.  We  cannot  too  clearly  see  that  India's  ulti- 
mate Reality  has  no  purposeful  activity  and  em- 
bodies all  the  defects  of  pantheism;  but  we  should! 
be  ready  to  admit  the  attainment  of  her  forest 
sages  who  approached  the  great  realization  of  the 
immanence  of  the  Divine  in  the  world,  in  statements 
like  the  following:  "I,  indeed,  am  below.  I  am 
above.  I  am  to  the  west.  I  am  to  the  east.  I  am 
to  the  south.  I  am  to  the  north.  I,  indeed,  am  this 
whole  world."^  In  short,  it  is  essential  that  our  ap- 
proach be  sympathetic  and  appreciative.  And  then, 


'Cf.  Farquhar,  J.  N.,  Modern  Religious  Movements  in  Iv/- 
dia,  pp.  208-90. 

'Chandogya  Upanishad,  7.  25.     (Hume's  translation). 


24  Building  with  India 

as  long  as  we  keep  a  true  perspective,  no  fair  minded 
Indian  will  object  to  a  picture  that  has  its  shadows 
as  well  as  its  sunshine. 

IX 

The  Indian  Christian  Church  will  benefit  by  a 
fresh  study  of  the  best  in  India.  It  is  significant 
that  the  Young  Men's  Christian  Association  is  so 
sure  that  a  study  of  the  best  in  India  is  advisable  that 
it  is  bringing  out  a  series  of  volumes  on  the  heritage 
of  India  which  are  cheap  enough  to  be  popularly 
available.  In  such  work  Indian  Christians  and 
missionaries  must  use  constant  discrimination  to 
separate  the  good  from  the  indiflferent  and  the  un- 
wholesome. It  would  be  the  height  of  folly  to  give 
unmeasured  praise  to  everjrthing  Indian  simply  be- 
cause it  is  Indian.  The  most  ardent  Christian  na- 
tionalist, however  keen  may  be  his  consciousness 
of  India's  great  common  heritage,  should  demand 
a  rigid  exclusion  of  all  elements  which  are  out  of 
harmony  with  the  spirit  of  Christ.  As  we  shall  see, 
India  has  a  darker  heritage.  Let  us  remember  the 
lesson  of  the  Fourth  Century  and  the  period  fol- 
lowing, when  mass  movements  to  Christianity  were 
found  in  Europe.  Converts  tended  to  bring  over 
into  Christian  worship  and  thought  pagan  forms 
and  spirit.  There  is  a  danger  that  this  experience 
may  be  repeated  today  in  India. 

It  is  well  to  remember  with  what  loathing  Pandita 
Ramabai  turned  away  from  the  inheritance  of 
Hinduism.  Herself  a  Sanskrit  scholar,  she  would 
not  let  her  daughter  learn  Sanskrit.  To  this  re- 
markable Christian,  whose  heart's  desire  and  prayer 


India's  Heritage  25 

to  God  for  India  is  that  India  may  be  saved,  Hindu- 
ism is  the  power  of  darkness,  and  from  it  she  would 
say  the  Christian  can  obtain  nothing  good.  Such 
strong  testimony  should  warn  any  who  have  not  had ; 
her  intimate  and  tragic  experience  with  the  domi- 
nant religion  in  India  that  only  the  ablest  and  most 
spiritual  souls  should  assume  the  task  of  separating 
the  gold  from  the  dross.  Christianity's  purity  and 
transforming  power  in  India  depend  upon  the  active 
existence  of  a  Spirit-guided  discrimination  within 
the  Indian  Church.  <■ 

For  us  of  the  West,  appreciation  of  this  heritage  ^  '*^  ' 
ought  to  make  it  easier  to  displace  the  spirit  of  ^ .  * 
patronage  with  the  spirit  of  brotherhood.    Perhaps        *' 
if  we  valued  India's  heritage  more,  the  judgment  ex-  h-  *-^ 
pressed  by  an  Indian  Christian  saint  of  great  spiri-  /.;  iZf^ 
tual  penetration  would  never  have  been  formed.^  «      . 
Speaking  to  a  Britisher  of  his  relations  with  West-  ,^  ^^^ 
ern  Christians,  he  said,  "You  know,  you  make  us'^,;/^ 
feel  that  you  want  to  do  good  to  us,  but  you  don't  ' 
make  us  feel  that  you  need  us."    The  seriousness      .*-^ 
of  the  situation  arises  from  the  danger  that,  if 
Western  peoples  offer  Christianity  to  India  in  the 
spirit  of  condescension,  she  may  refuse  it. 

Furthermore,  an  appreciation  of  the  extent  to  / 
which  the  best  spirit  of  India  is  to  be  found  in  her  j 
folk-lore,  art,  and  literature,  is  somewhat  changing  I 
our  method.    Writers  of  an  older  day  often  incul- 
cated a  disgust  with  everything  Indian.    It  used  to 
be  that  to  become  a  Christian  meant  almost  com- 
plete isolation  from  all  that  was  best  in  India's  tra- 
ditions of  custom  and  religious  belief.    Many  a  per- 
son in  a  long  established  Christian  community  in 


26  Building  with  India 

India  is  almost  as  ignorant  of  her  folk-lore  as  if  he 
had  been  born  in  the  West.  Now,  however,  in  ac- 
cord with  the  demand  of  the  times,  our  missionaries 
are  taking  the  dominant  national  spirit  into  consid- 
eration in  the  selection  of  materials  to  be  used  in 
their  elementary  and  secondary  education.  They  are 
drawing  more  upon  Indian  folk-lore,  literature,  and 
art,  since  the  result  of  their  work  must  be  something 
that  is  not  only  Christian,  but  also  Indian.  We  must 
be  ready  to  encourage  the  kind  of  selection  from 
non-Christian  sources  that  enabled  our  own  Chris- 
tianity to  become  naturalized  in  the  Greek  and 
Roman  and  European  world. 

Westerners  have  sometimes  gone  to  the  East  in  the 
aggressive  spirit  of  Occidental  civilization,  assum- 
ing that  there  was  no  need  of  considering  any  cul- 
ture but  their  own.  However,  most  missionaries 
have  long  since  come  to  see  that  if  they  are  to  teach 
anything  to  a  given  people,  they  must  enter  into  its 
spirit  and  culture  and  learn  to  appreciate  what  these 
already  contain.  When  the  teaching  of  Christ  links 
itself  up  with  the  cultural  heritage  of  a  country,  the 
more  readily  can  it  make  its  appeal  with  power  to 
the  heart  of  that  people.  Hence,  we  do  not  try  to 
eradicate  a  people's  habits  of  thought  and  ways  of 
doing  things  simply  because  they  are  not  like  our 
own.  In  so  far  as  they  are  not  un-Christian,  we  re- 
spect them  and  endeavor  to  enlist  these  indigenous 
ways  and  powers  for  worthful  ends.  Even  further, 
we  must  realize  without  reserve  that  we  go  to  learn 
as  well  as  to  teach.  Every  nation  is  our  master  in 
certain  respects. 


India's  Heritage  27 

If  we  are  ever  to  work  with  India  for  a  better/ 
world,  there  must  be  a  development  of  mutual  ap-l 
preciation  and  respect.  Pity  and  compassion  may- 
go  forth  to  those  whom  we  do  not  respect,  but  if  we 
are  to  enter  into  Christian  cooperation  with  another 
people,  there  must  be  admiration  for  what  is 
worthy  in  them.  We  must  think  of  them  not  only  as 
recipients  of  help,  but  as  contributors  of  a  rich  store 
of  customs  and  habits  all  their  own.  This  inter- 
racial respect  does  not  seem  to  come  naturally. 
Every  primitive  people  manifests  a  high  disdain  of 
other  races  and  other  cultures.  Even  for  us,  it  is 
easier  to  point  out  the  weaknesses  of  other  nations 
than  to  recall  their  virtues.  Their  defects  seem  to 
stand  out  upon  the  surface  for  anyone  with  half  an 
eye  to  see.  It  requires  an  effort  to  discover  the 
goodness.  Similarly,  when  we  come  to  deal  with  an- 
other people,  patronage  seems  to  be  easier  than 
partnership,  to  work  for  them  seems  to  be  a  great 
deal  more  fitting  than  to  work  with  them.  How 
characteristic  was  this  remark  referring  to  the 
people  of  India:  "I'm  interested  in  them  and  want 
to  help  them  all  I  can,  and  I  am  sure  our  church 
wants  to  help  them.  Just  what  can  we  do  for  them?" 
But  when  asked,  "Do  you  wish  them  to  help  you?" 
the  person  hesitated — "Well, — I  had  not  thought 
about  that.  No,  I  hardly  think  so."  The  two  fac- 
tors here  overlooked — cooperation  and  mutual  ap- 
preciation— are  those  which  God  is  leading  modern 
missions  to  emphasize. 

We  rejoice  that  India  has  capacities  and  attain- 
ments which  may  be  brought  to  the  service  of  the 


28  Building  with  India 

Kingdom.  Her  contributions  are  essential  because 
the  accomplishment  of  the  world  task  cannot  be  an 
individual  matter.  It  is  not  a  possibility  even  for  a 
nation,  for  it  is  becoming  more  and  more  plain  that 
the  making  of  a  better  world  is  not  the  work  of  any- 
one country.  It  requires  that  God's  purpose  shall 
be  widely  shared  by  men.  It  depends  on  the  efforts 
of  all  peoples  combined.  It  might  be  possible  for 
one  people  that  had  caught  the  vision  to  goad  on 
another  for  an  inch  or  so  of  progress,  but  the  riches 
of  the  glory  of  God  in  the  corporate  life  of  man  will 
not  be  fully  manifested  until  all  peoples  are  working 
together  with  Him.  Herein  we  find  ourselves  inex- 
tricably interlinked  with  our  fellows  around  the 
world.  This  is  the  true  basis  of  interest  in  other 
lands — ^the  interest  back  of  this  study  of  India — 
not  curiosity,  not  romance,  not  pity,  not  largesse, 
but  an  eagerness  to  enlist  the  peoples  in  a  great  co- 
operative enterprise  with  others  and  with  God. 

What  a  challenge  confronts  the  Church  of  the 
West  as  it  contemplates  the  heritage  of  India !  There 
is  the  opportunity  of  leading  a  gifted  people  to  adopt 
the  thrilling  program  of  the  Kingdom  of  God  and  of 
sharing  with  them  the  high  privilege  of  world-wide 
service  empowered  by  God.  There  is  the  possibility 
that  in  them  too  may  be  born  the  stupendous  mis- 
sionary purpose  of  co-working  with  God  and  all 
mankind  for  a  better  world.  Thus  would  one  more 
step  be  taken  toward  building  up  a  society  of  per- 
sonalities developed  to  their  best,  realizing  their  es- 
sential oneness  with  one  another  and  with  God,  and 
consciously  cooperating  with  His  gracious  purpose 
for  the  world. 


.    Prayer 

FATHER  of  all  mankind,  who  hast  planted 
good  in  every  race,  we  praise  Thee  for  the 
gifts  Thou  hast  sent  to  the  world  through 
India.  For  all  that  she  can  place  at  Thy  disposal, 
for  eJI  that  can  be  purged  of  dross  for  the  service 
of  the  world,  and  for  all  upon  which  the  Christ  can 
build,  we  thank  Thee,  O  our  Father. 

€[Grant  that,  in  her  effort  to  develop  materially, 
India  may  not  lose  her  spiritueJ  capacities,  that  she 
may  ever  stand  for  spiritual  growth,  and  that  through 
Christ  she  may  yet  be  the  means  of  weaning  men 
from  empty  pleasures  to  fellowship  with  Thee. 
Teach  us  to  see  beyond  the  engrossing  activities  of 
our  Western  life  into  the  values  in  other  lands,  and 
grant  to  us  that  humility  and  liberal  spirit  which 
will  appreciate  and  learn.  Remove  from  us  all 
pride,  arrogance,  censoriousness,  and  false  assump- 
tion of  superiority. 

€IThrough  no  merit  of  our  own  Thou  hast  entrusted 
us  with  the  revelation  of  Thyself  in  Christ — that 
which  will  satisfy  the  long  search  of  India.  Forbid 
that  we  should  be  dull  of  discernment  or  weak  of 
will  when  with  open  mind  we  find  the  witness  Thou 
hast  left  of  Thyself  in  India  and  the  Light  that  has 
lighted  them.  May  we  be  true  to  them  and  true 
to  Thee  by  sharing  Him  who  alone  shall  bring  In- 
dia's heritage  to  its  greatest  glory.     Amen. 


29 


CHAPTER  TWO 
Handicaps  to  Progress 

We  have  been  looking  at  India's  attainments ;  but 
unfortunately  she  has  a  darker,  sadder  heritage — 
her  handicaps.  Some  of  these  are  seen  most  clearly 
in  the  story  of  India's  efforts  to  help  herself.^  Still 
others  are  vividly  brought  out  in  the  biographies  of 
Christian  converts.^  We  want  to  focus  attention  for 
a  time  on  some  of  these  handicaps,  not  out  of  a  feel- 
ing of  superiority  to  India,  or  that  any  response 
which  is  self-congratulatory  may  be  drawn  forth. 
We  need  constantly  to  remember  that  we  too  have 
handicaps.  But  if  India  is  our  potential  partner  in 
a  great  world  task,  it  is  essential  to  know  the  lia- 
bilities as  well  as  the  assets  she  would  bring  to  that 
partnership.  Moreover,  an  appraisal  of  those  lia- 
bilities is  essential  if  our  love,  prayer,  and  friendly 
help  are  to  be  worthily  and  effectively  directed 
toward  amelioration  and  cooperative  endeavor.  We 
may  admire  intensely,  but  sympathy  must  be  tem- 
pered by  discrimination. 

In  thinking  of  India's  needs  we  must  remember 
that  our  condition  is  by  no  means  the  standard. 
Our  responsibility  is  not  so  much  to  bring  India  to 
our  present  condition  as  though  that  were  the  norm ; 
it  is  rather  to  impart  the  secret  of  all  we  deem  high- 
est in  our  growth.  Our  responsibility  is  to  share 
our  great  heritage  in  Christ,  to  exhibit  the  Spirit 

*See  Chapter  III. 
'See  Bibliography. 


Handicaps  to  Progress  31 

He  instils,  and  to  urge  His  Way,  not  merely  as  one 
among  many  possible  policies  for  India's  fullest  de- 
velopment, but  as  her  one  great,  incomparable  op- 
portunity. We  both  have  a  long  way  to  go — v^^e  are 
brothers  in  need.  The  best  we  have  to  share  comes 
from  no  merit  of  our  own;  it  has  been  a  free  gift. 
The  important  thing  is  that  we  both  should  be  de- 
veloping in  the  presence  of  the  Highest. 

From  what  follows  it  will  be  manifest  that  there 
is  not  only  abundant  opportunity,  but  urgent  need 
for  the  straightforward  sharing  of  things  which  are 
essential  to  India  if  she  is  to  make  her  richest  con- 
tribution to  the  world.  While  in  some  things  India 
surpasses  us,  she  sorely  needs  the  Spring  of  living 
progress.  We  must  share  Western  technique,  mod- 
ern education,  many  of  our  methods  of  social  help- 
fulness, but  above  all  a  knowledge  of  the  Christ.  It 
may  be  that  India's  recognition  of  her  many  and 
varied  needs  will  predispose  her  to  the  gospel  and 
provide  the  stimuli  to  which  its  appeal  can  be  made. 

I 

One  cannot  contemplate  without  concern  the  fact 
that  the  average  life  in  India  is  only  24.7  years.  In 
the  United  States  the  average  term  of  life  has  risen 
to  44,  and  medical  men  are  confidently  expecting  it 
to  be  60  before  many  decades  have  passed.  As  we 
shall  see,  the  figures  for  India  need  not  be  so  low. 

India's  general  death-rate  is  high  (31.8  per  1000) 
compared  with  that  of  Japan  (21.9) ,  Canada  (15.2) , 
England,  Scotland,  and  Wales  (14.6),  and  the 
United  States  (14.1).   The  death-rate  of  infants^  is 

'The  number  per  1000  born  who  die  in  their  first  year. 


32  Building  with  India 

the  most  positive  index  of  physical  welfare  which  we 
possess.  Official  statistics  show  that  there  is  scarcely 
a  large  town  in  India  in  which  the  rate  is  not 
above  two  hundred  and  in  many  of  the  largest  towns 
it  is  more  than  four  hundred.^  The  rate  is  not  much 
more  than  a  third  as  great  in  most  places  in  the 
West.^  An  educational  officer  of  the  Government  of 
India  says  that  India  loses  two  million  babies  each 
year,  while  many  survive  only  to  grow  up  weak  and 
feeble.  Inattention  and  bad  hygienic  surroundings 
during  infancy  are  in  part  to  blame.  But  one  of  the 
main  causes  is  child  marriage.  A  boy  has  children 
before  he  is  supporting  himself  and  before  his  wife 
is  ready  for  the  strain.  Half  the  children  born  are 
doomed  to  an  early  death  under  present  circum- 
stances, and  the  amount  they  eat  makes  less  food 
available  for  those  who  live ;  hence,  those  who  sur- 
vive tend  to  grow  up  inefficient.  England's  popula- 
tion increases  as  fast  as  India's  with  a  birth-rate 
only  a  little  over  half  as  great  as  India's.  The 
abolition  of  child  marriage  with  a  lower  birth-rate 
would  do  much  to  give  India  the  relief  she  needs  for 
raising  her  economic  and  educational  standards. 
The  appalling  handicaps  of  Indian  women  on  the 
battle-field  of  motherhood  are  described  in  Chapter 
Four. 

The  health  problems  of  India  are  enormous. 
Plague  in  its  most  virulent  form  first  reached  Bom- 
bay in  1896,  and  in  the  next  twenty  years  took  away 
ten  million  lives.     Plague  is  now  endemic  in  some 

'Delhi  (1917),  256.24;  Madras  (1919),  360.7;  Bombay 
(1918),  436.37;  Mandalay  (1916),  443.3. 

'Canada,  99.1;  United  States,  77;  England,  Scotland,  and 
Wales,  73.2;  New  York  City,  81;  Cleveland,  95. 


Handicaps  to  Progress  33 

provinces,  so  that  India  is  the  greatest  reservoir  of 
plague  in  the  world.  At  times  the  death-rate  goes 
up  as  high  as  one  in  one  hundred.  But  in  the  most 
severely  plague  infected  parts  of  India  there  is 
always  a  well  defined  plague-free  season.  In  these 
months  the  foci  of  infection  are  sufficiently  small 
to  justify  the  hope  that  the  disease  can  be  conquered 
if  only  public  opinion  can  be  aroused,  reporting 
agencies  established,  and  rat  destruction  adopted. 
Do  not  these  times  of  minimum  infection  challenge 
India — and  us — to  achieving  effort? 

Parasitic  infections  are  very  common.  An  officer 
working  on  hookworm  inquiry  gives  the  following 
figures  for  this  infection  where  investigations  have 
been  made: — limited  areas  of  Bombay  Presidency, 
40  per  cent ;  of  the  Punjab,  60  per  cent ;  of  the  United 
Provinces,  70-84  per  cent;  of  Bengal,  80  per  cent; 
and  for  thirteen  districts  of  Madras  Presidency 
97-100  per  cent.  Conditions  are  conducive  since  in 
the  country  folks  go  about  barefooted,  and  thus  a 
ready  entrance  to  the  germs  is  provided.  Figures 
given  for  whipworm,  round  worm,  and  thread  worm 
ranged  from  37  to  96  per  cent.  And  yet  as  simple 
a  precaution  as  the  use  of  permanganate  in  wells 
would  do  much  to  lessen  these  drags  on  efficiency, 
while  for  hookworm  an  effective  specific  has  been 
discovered.  Every  one  who  knows  how  these  dis- 
eases sap  the  vitality  of  the  laboring  classes  will  re- 
joice that  the  Rockefeller  Foundation,  which  has  set 
before  itself  the  task  of  eradicating  hookworm  the 
world  around  and  has  begun  work  in  forty  different 
countries,  initiated  work  in  India  in  1920. 

Tuberculosis  is  spreading  in  India  as  a  result  of 


34  Building  with  India 

increased  communications,  the  growth  of  new  in- 
stitutions which  bring  people  together  in  buildings, 
and  the  substitution  of  factories  for  house  indus- 
tries.^ The  fringe  of  tuberculosis  around  any  large 
city  is  demonstrably  enlarging  with  more  coming 
and  going. 

The  custom  of  child  marriage  shows  one  of  its 
serious  sides  in  predisposing  mothers  and  children 
to  tuberculosis.  Where  purdah^  conditions  growing 
out  of  Muhammadan  influence  exist,  vital  statistics 
show  that  the  death-rate  among  women  is  forty  per 
cent  higher  than  among  men.  The  effect  of  the  pur- 
dah system  is  well  illustrated  by  statistics  of  a  given 
town  where  the  Muhammadans  happen  to  belong  to 
a  far  higher  level  than  the  Hindus,  and  therefore 
should  be  able  to  have  better  clothing  and  food,  but 
among  whom  the  purdah  system  is  observed  with 
special  strictness.  Here  the  average  death-rate 
from  tuberculosis  among  the  Hindu  men  and  women 
is  1.05  and  1.36  per  thousand  respectively;  among 
the  Muhammadan  men  and  women  2.15  and  6.7 
respectively. 

Even  where  the  purdah  system  does  not  prevail, 
as  in  south  India,  women  sleep  inside  with  doors  and 
windows  closed  for  fear  of  robbers  who  might  tear 
from  their  arms  and  ears  the  large  gold  and  silver 
ornaments  which  in  India  represent  family  savings. 
Others  fear  evil  spirits  and  so  sleep  with  their  rooms 


^For  a  thorough  treatment  of  this  subject  see  Tuberculosis 
in  India,  Arthur  Lankester,  M.  D. 

^Literally,  a  veil  or  curtain  which  screens  women  from 
the  gaze  of  men.  In  common  usage  it  is  applied  to  anything 
exclusively  for  women. 


Handicaps  to  Progress  35 

shut  as  tight  as  possible.  An  almost  universal  habit 
is  the  custom  of  sleeping  with  the  head  entirely  cov- 
ered with  bedclothes.  This  naturally  makes  proper 
aeration  of  the  blood  impossible.  Even  when  this 
ingrained  habit  can  be  broken,  it  leaves  the  new 
problem  of  protection  from  mosquitoes  among  peo- 
ple who  cannot  afford  to  buy  a  net,  and  of  protection 
from  cold  in  northern  India  on  the  part  of  those  who 
can  ill  afford  fuel  or  extra  blankets. 

More  communities  should  be  encouraged  to  follow 
Delhi's  lead  in  establishing  a  purdah  garden,  a  gar- 
den exclusively  for  women, — out  of  a  portion  of 
waste  land,  sheltering  it  from  prying  eyes  by  a  high 
wall.  Here  women  may  benefit  from  fresh  air,  ex- 
ercise, and  mental  change  from  close  confinement  in 
their  homes. 

In  the  West  we  are  inclined  to  say  that  the  hous- 
ing condition  of  a  community  affects  practically 
every  aspect  of  its  social  well-being  and  is,  there- 
fore, one  of  the  most  important  factors  in  determin- 
ing the  health  and  morals  of  a  community.  It  would 
be  interesting  to  discuss  whether  the  statement  also 
applies  to  conditions  in  India.  Certainly  there  are 
those  who  hold  that  next  to  malaria,  bad  housing  is 
responsible  for  the  greatest  number  of  deaths  in 
India.  The  Indian  Industrial  Commission  places 
better  housing  in  the  forefront  of  its  recommenda- 
tions for  improving  the  conditions  of  the  Indian  ar- 
tisan. In  the  Delhi  Child  Welfare  Exhibit,  in  order 
to  show  to  the  people  the  effects  of  overcrowding, 
deficient  air,  and  bad  housing,  there  was  a  compara- 
tive demonstration  where  seedlings  could  grow  un- 
der favorable  and  adverse  conditions,  e.  g.,  in  the 


36  Building  with  India 

light,  in  the  dark;  in  good  soil,  in  sandy  soil;  fed 
with  water  lacking  nitrates ;  grown  sparsely,  grown 
densely. 

Imagination  has  no  difficulty  in  picturing  the  far- 
reaching  effects  of  bad  sanitation.  Not  only  actual 
deaths  are  to  be  reckoned,  but  there  are  the  sick  also. 
It  has  been  calculated  that  one  third  of  India's  labor- 
time  is  lost  through  illness.  There  is  the  loss  in  time 
of  those  who  care  for  the  sick  and  the  reduced  effi- 
ciency of  those  who  get  well,  for  malaria  which 
weakens  is  even  worse  than  plague  which  kills.  How 
can  India  forge  ahead  when  plague  alone  has  for  the 
past  twenty  years  taken  an  average  of  five  hundred 
thousand  per  year,  bringing  wholesale  disorganiza- 
tion of  industry  when  it  is  at  its  height.  Finally, 
there  are  those  who  are  born  with  little  strength  or 
hardihood.  India's  ability  to  increase  her  contribu- 
tion to  the  great  problem  of  feeding  the  world  de- 
pends on  the  capacity  of  her  laborers  for  hard  and 
consecutive  work.  In  general,  her  rate  of  economic, 
industrial,  and  social  progress  will  be  determined  in 
no  small  measure  by  her  success  in  dealing  with  pre- 
ventable disease. 

Indians  may  not  wish  to  change  long  established 
customs  and  habits,  but  at  least  data  and  demon- 
strations should  be  provided  so  that  they  may 
be  able  to  estimate  the  cost  in  life  and  suffering 
which  the  continuance  of  certain  habits  involves. 
It  is  not  easy,  however,  to  rise  to  new  and  unusual 
standards.  It  helps  our  sympathy  with  India  to 
seek  out  examples  of  inertia  in  the  West,  to  note  our 
callous  attitude  in  many  states  to  such  evils  as  child 
labor  and  railway  accidents  or  the  way  in  which  we 


Handicaps  to  Progress  37 

keep  on  using  white  bread  when  science  has  shown 
the  superior  quality  of  a  whole  wheat  type. 

II 

There  are  plenty  of  problems  and  obstacles  mak- 
ing the  attainment  of  better  conditions  difficult. 
There  is  lethargy.  The  chief  medical  officer  of  the 
Punjab,  speaking  of  a  certain  cheap  substitute  for 
quinine  as  a  specific  for  malaria,  has  declared  that 
"the  general  population  are  too  lethargic  and  lazy 
to  take  the  drug,  even  if  it  is  at  their  hand,  until  the 
attack  of  fever  comes  along."  Government  officers 
in  the  Madras  Presidency,  having  arranged  new 
sites  for  the  congested  outcaste  communities,  have 
reported  that  in  many  cases  such  sites  only  a  short 
distance  away  have  remained  unoccupied  three  years 
because  of  the  inertia  of  the  group.  These  unfor- 
tunate people  were  so  far  down  in  poverty  and  debt 
that  they  could  not,  or  at  least  failed  to,  take  ad- 
vantage of  better  conditions. 

There  is  religious  superstition.  Thousands  of  the 
uneducated  still  believe  that  disease  is  due  to  evil 
spirits  and  to  the  "evil-eye"  that  someone  has  cast 
upon  the  afflicted.  Hosts  are  gripped  by  fatalism 
and  hence  resign  themselves  to  conditions  as  being 
brought  about  by  God's  will,  answering  suggestions 
for  improvement  by,  "What's  the  use?" 

There  is  ignorance.  Village  ponds  are  still  the 
common  sources  for  drinking  water  notwithstand- 
ing the  facts  that  they  catch  all  sorts  of  surface 
drainage,  that  in  them  buffaloes  wallow  to  their 
hearts'  content,  and  on  their  edge  the  washerman 
beats  out  the  soil  from  the  village  clothes.    The  vil- 


38  Building  with  India 

lagers  keep  on  drinking  until  the  pools  get  so  low 
that  they  can  see  the  dirt. 

Even  though  superstition  and  ignorance  could  be 
overcome,  there  is  lack  of  an  adequate  budget  to 
carry  out  approved  plans,  since  modern  health 
I  "measures  are  expensive.  The  sanitary  commissioner 
of  the  Government  of  India  says^  that  there  is  no 
organized  health  staff  for  more  than  a  mere  frac- 
tion of  India's  population,  and  that  only  an  insig- 
nificant percentage  of  the  people  w^ho  die  are  cared 
for  at  any  stage  of  their  final  illness  by  persons  pos- 
sessing adequate  medical  qualifications.  Vital  sta- 
tistics are  recorded  in  rural  districts  by  those  who 
have  little  other  claim  to  qualification  than  literacy, 
and  yet  it  is  recognized  that  a  more  or  less  accurate 
knowledge  of  the  prevalence  of  preventable  disease 
is  the  first  essential  to  any  adequate  measure  of  pre- 
vention. Furthermore,  some  Indians  think  that  the 
\  substitution  of  modern  Western  methods  or  stand- 
i  ards  for  those  which  have  been  sanctioned  by  imme- 
I  morial  usage  betokens  lack  of  patriotic  feeling. 
Then  there  are  real  problems  of  judgment.  Sup- 
pose you  know  that  one  of  the  most  common  kinds  of 
ophthalmia  comes  from  the  custom  of  cooking  inside 
the  house  in  little  fireplaces  which  fill  the  room  with 
smoke.  Would  you  advise  chimneys  in  spite  of  the 
fact  that  the  extra  cost  for  fuel  due  to  the  increased 
draft  would  be  impossible?  Suppose  you  know  that 
in  winter  women  are  injured  from  the  common 
practice  of  sitting  on  the  cold,  damp  ground.  Would 
you  advise  the  introduction  of  chairs  and  tables, 
with  the  changed  economic  standards  these  involve? 

'Report  1917,  p.  39. 


Handicaps  to  Progress  39 

The  introduction  of  Western  schedules  and  con- 
centrated study  periods  in  the  schools  is  making  an 
additional  demand  for  nourishment  and  care.  When 
an  Indian  village  child  enters  one  of  our  mission 
boarding-schools,  the  change  in  environment  is  far 
more  complete  than  a  similar  step  would  be  for  on6 
in  the  West.  The  village  child  in  his  home  enjoys 
extraordinary  freedom;  there  is  very  little  re- 
straint ;  meals  and  hours  of  work  are  irregular ;  the 
child  rests  and  sleeps  when  it  wishes ;  and  practically 
no  discipline  is  attempted.  The  routine  hours  of  a 
boarding-school  are  in  absolute  contrast  to  this. 
Hence,  the  diet  regime  of  lax  village  life  cannot  be 
made  a  model  for  our  boarding-schools.  Bodies  that 
might  have  stood  the  test  of  the  casual  life  at  homei 
often  develop  unsuspected  weaknesses  when  mind 
and  body  come  under  strains  that  the  village  never 
produced.  We  are  just  beginning  to  appreciate  the 
significance  of  these  facts  in  the  management  of  our 
mission  schools.  That  children  come  to  our  schools 
from  homes  where  adequate  sanitary  habits  and 
standards  are  not  inculcated,  added  to  the  fact  that 
India  above  all  countries  regards  the  teacher  as  a 
sacred  person  embodying  the  functions  of  instruc- 
tor, parent,  guardian,  doctor,  and,  above  all,  reli- 
gious guide,  places  a  tremendous  responsibility  upon 
those  who  take  charge  of  these  schools. 

In  India,  the  prayer,  "from  plague,  pestilence,  and 
famine,  Good  Lord,  deliver  us,"  does  not  require  a 
stimulated  imagination,  as  with  us.  It  is  a  very 
heavy  burden  of  responsibility  that  is  carried  by  our 
heads  of  mission  schools  with  over-crowded  dormi- 
tories, little  possibility  of  segregation,  and  an  under- 


40  Building  with  India 

staffed  condition.  Whenever  cholera  breaks  out  in  a 
neighboring  village,  such  precautionary  measures 
as  are  possible  must  be  taken  at  once.  Suddenly, 
however,  a  morning  may  dawn  when  it  is  found  that 
cholera  has  descended  upon  the  school.  Possibly 
there  are  three  cases  on  the  first  day,  and  two  little 
boys  die  before  evening.  After  a  very  anxious  three 
weeks'  fight,  the  infection  may  be  mastered,  and  the 
cause  traced  to  some  earthen  cooking-pots  that  had 
been  bought  recently  at  a  near-by  village  where  the 
disease  was  active.  Or  it  may  be  a  woman  had 
washed  the  clothes  of  a  cholera  patient  at  the  com- 
mon well,  and  the  germs  went  down  with  the  bucket 
and  rope. 

Ill 

However,  through  the  activities  of  Government, 
missions,  and  the  beginnings  of  social  service  on  the 
part  of  college  students,  a  progress,  even  if  slow,  is 
being  made.  A  popular  conscience  with  respect  to 
sanitation  is  being  developed.  In  many  places,  at 
the  approach  of  plague,  the  people  already  begin  to 
clean  up  in  their  own  houses,  although  one  may  not 
observe  much  change  on  the  outside.  Beds  are 
sunned  more  regularly,  and  an  effort  is  made  to  be 
sanitary.  Willingness  to  vacate  houses  entirely  on 
the  approach  of  plague  is  increasing.  Recent  experi- 
ments indicate  that  the  demand  for  quinine,  the 
known  specific  for  malaria,  is  likely  to  increase 
enormously  during  the  next  few  years.  More  and 
more  attention  is  being  given  to  the  appointment  of 
sanitary  committees  in  towns,  to  water-supply  and 
drainage   systems,   to   special   plague   and   cholera 


Handicaps  to  Progress  41 

staffs,  to  traveling  dispensaries,  and  to  malaria  and 
tuberculosis  campaigns. 

Consistent  efforts  through  vaccination  have  been 
made  against  smallpox.  The  marked  success  of 
these  efforts,  even  when  a  poorly  paid  agency  was 
used,  ought  to  encourage  every  lover  of  India.  Fur- 
thermore, forces  emanating  from  Christianity  are 
freeing  the  minds  from  inhibiting  fears  which  in 
many  cases  are  more  harmful  than  the  diseases 
themselves.  Instead  of  attributing  the  ravages  of 
disease  to  fate  or  buttressing  passivity  in  the  belief 
that  it  is  all  due  to  sins  committed  in  a  previous  ex- 
istence, some  people — that  is,  those  who  hear  of  Him 
— are  coming  to  believe  in  a  Father  whose  purposes 
are  love.  God  does  not  want  His  children  overcome 
by  sin ;  does  He  mean  that  they  should  be  overcome 
by  disease?  Should  we  not  work  together  with  Him 
for  the  day  when  disease  shall  be  conquered? 

IV 

In  turning  to  consider  India's  material  develop- 
ment, we  need  to  remember  that  it  is  an  exceedingly 
difficult  matter  to  compare  with  fairness  the  eco- 
nomic conditions  of  two  countries  and  to  determine 
the  relation  of  these  conditions  to  general  happiness. 
Certain  facts,  however,  are  available.  If  per  capita 
wealth  of  India  be  taken  as  1,  that  of  Japan  would 
be  3.7 ;  Canada,  18.5 ;  the  United  Kingdom,  22.8 ;  and 
the  United  States,  27.9.  The  number  of  landlords  in 
the  United  Provinces  (one  of  the  most  densely  pop- 
ulated areas)  whose  incomes  exceed  20  pounds  a  year 
is  about  126,000  out  of  a  population  of  48,000,000.^ 

'^Report  on  India  Constitutional  Reforms,  p.  112. 


42  Building  with  India 

In  the  Deccan,  inquiries  as  to  expenditures  con- 
sidered necessary  by  the  people  themselves  per 
family  of  five  gave  Rs.^  142  for  food;  Rs.  48  for 
clothing;  other  expenses,  Rs.  10;  making  an  annual 
total  of  Rs.  200.-  In  some  areas  people  speak  of 
poverty  as  their  "mother." 

Owing  to  the  introduction  of  railways,  the  price 
of  Indian-grown  wheat  is  fixed  by  the  Chicago  stock 
market  so  that  the  simple  village  people  can  no 
longer  afford  to  eat  a  grain  that  their  more  pros- 
perous foreign  brothers  want;  hence  they  eat  the 
cheaper  pulses.  That  there  is  a  terrible  amount  of 
actual  hunger  in  Indian  villages  during  certain 
months  before  the  harvest  is  a  fact  beyond  dispute. 

Some  lowcaste  villagers  near  Benares  said  that 
they  ate  only  once  in  two  days  for  a  month  or  two 
in  the  cold  weather  before  the  Rabi  (winter)  har- 
vest when  they  get  the  pulses  and  barley.  But  in 
the  hot,  dry  months  they  gorged  themselves  at  mar- 
riage feasts.  When  asked  why  they  did  not  save  up 
for  the  lean  season  before  harvest,  they  replied  that 
it  would  all  be  taken  up  for  interest  and  rent.  "We 
live  in  fear — ^fear  of  the  money  lender,  fear  of  the 
landlord's  agent,  fear  of  the  police."  With  false 
interest  and  extorted  land  assessments,  they  felt 
that  they  would  never  be  able  to  get  any  benefit  from 
saving. 

An  extended  tour  among  the  villages  leaves  one 
with  the  impression  of  poorness,  of  life  reduced  to 
the  barest  necessities  of  existence,  of  men,  women, 
and  children  escaping  starvation  but  living  below  a 


*At  normal  exchange  rate  a  rupee  is  worth  about  33  cents. 
"Report  on  India  Constitutional  Reforms,  p.  136. 


Handicaps  to  Progress  43 

level  of  most  meager  comfort.  Some  missionaries 
who  spend  their  lives  among  the  villages  are  not^ 
most  impressed  with  India's  aspiration  after  tht 
Infinite.  They  would  acknowledge  that  souls  like] 
Tagore  may  be  found  among  the  leisure  class  and  in 
sequestered  corners,  but  they  are  almost  tempted  to 
doubt  the  existence  of  a  soul  among  the  masses  of 
the  village  working  class.  Listen  to  the  conversa- 
tion going  on  in  a  village.  Every  other  word  refers 
to  pice  (their  smallest  coin)  or  food.  The  supreme 
concern  of  the  people  during  nine  tenths  of  a  vil- 
lager's waking  hours  is  to  meet  the  demand  of  his 
stomach  and  his  children's  stomachs.  How  to  pay 
his  rent;  the  price  of  grain  and  cloth;  whether  he 
can  pay  the  interest  on  the  loan  he  took  last  year  for 
his  seed ;  or  whether  with  heavy  mortgages  already 
on  his  property  he  can  get  an  additional  loan  to  re- 
place an  ox  that  has  died — ^these  are  the  villager's 
pressing  problems. 


What  are  the  causes  of  this  unsatisfactory  situa- 
tion? One  cause  is  agrarian  indebtedness.  Over 
200,000,000  of  India's  population  are  engaged  in 
agriculture.  These  are  scattered  among  700,000 
small  villages.  Suppose  we  look  into  one  of  these 
villages  near  Poona.  A  systematic  investigation 
will  disclose  111  families,  with  a  population  of  556, 
and  a  total  debt  of  Rs.  13,314  upon  which  there  is  an 
annual  charge  of  Rs.  2,592 — a  crushing  load  de- 
manding one  fourth  of  the  total  profit  from  the  land. 
The  weight  of  social  customs  makes  the  desire  for 
money  on  certain  occasions  overwhelming.    Almost 


44  Building  with  India 

a  year's  income  may  be  spent  in  entertaining  guests 
at  a  wedding  or  some  other  domestic  ceremony. 
Man  is  a  social  animal  the  world  over,  and  India  has 
fixed  on  marriage  as  the  great  occasion  of  relieving 
life's  humdrum  by  an  elaborate  entertainment  of 
friends  and  relatives.  The  dowry  system,  where  it 
prevails,  works  like  a  perpetual  nightmare.^  An  ex- 
travagant desire  for  jewelry  is  general,  for  it  is  a 
sign  of  respectability.  Jewelry  is  also  India's  form 
of  life  insurance  for  the  benefit  of  women  in  case 
their  husbands  should  die,  because  it  is  the  only  kind 
of  property  a  woman  can  inherit.  Unlike  our  form 
of  insurance,  it  keeps  the  capital  tied  up  and  idle.  It 
is  as  natural  for  the  people  to  live  in  debt  as  for  a 
fish  to  live  in  water.  Once  a  debt  is  incurred,  the  ex- 
tortionate rate  of  interest  tends  to  keep  the  unfor- 
tunate person  bound.  Year  after  year  the  money 
lender  draws  the  string  tighter,  till  ornaments  are 
pawned,  property  mortgaged,  and  even  future  crops 
pledged.  Cases  are  known  where  serfdom  for  debt 
has  descended  to  the  third  generation.  This  not  only 
leads  to  a  hopeless  economic  condition,  but  paralyzes 
a  man's  will  and  energy  until  he  sinks  down  into  a 
state  of  resigned  fatalism. 

Another  cause  of  backward  agricultural  condi- 
tions is  the  minute  fragmentation  of  land.  If  a 
father  has  three  sons  and  three  plots  of  land,  each 
plot,  in  order  to  avoid  partiality,  will  be  divided  into 
three  parts  when  the  time  comes  to  partition  the 
property.  In  this  way  an  acre  of  land  is  worked  in 
as  many  as  nineteen  different  pieces.  A  man  has  to 
go  forth  in  all  directions  to  find  his  small  and  scat- 

*See  page  91, 


Handicaps  to  Progress  45 

tered  holdings,  varying  from  a  half  to  a  hundredth 
of  an  acre.     One  man  has  been  known  to  till  fifty; 
such  plots.    This  manifestly  gives  rise  to  many  hin- 
drances; it  renders  supervision  of  labor  difficult,  \ 
implements  have  to  be  carried  from  one  plot  to  an- ' 
other,  thereby  wasting  time  and  making  impossible 
the  use  of  any  but  light  and  portable  tools,  an  ex- 
cessive amount  of  land  is  lost  in  boundaries,  and 
any  effort  to  improve  stock  is  thwarted.     Before 
capital  and  modern  methods  can  be  widely  applied 
to  Indian  agriculture,  someone  must  study  the  Hindu 
laws  of  property  or,  from  the  experience  of  Eu- 
ropean countries  and  Japan  in  restripping  land,  sug- 
gest a  remedy  for  this  mammoth  handicap. 

Other  causes  of  agricultural  regression  are  ig- 
norance, resulting  in  inefficiency ;  lack  of  medical  and 
sanitary  science,  resulting  in  sickness,  physical  in- 
capacity, dependence,  and  premature  death;  an  in- 
creasing consumption  of  liquor ;  laziness,  leading  / 
many  to  stop  work  when  their  boxes  are  filled  with 
grain  and  to  start  working  only  when  they  are 
empty;  and  hopelessness,  arising  from  various 
forms  of  oppression  such  as  all  surplus  being 
taken  away.  Only  the  spirit  of  Christ  can  crowd  out 
such  oppression  either  in  India  or  in  America. 

VI 

Agricultural  methods  undoubtedly  can  be  im- 
proved. In  going  about  India  it  is  interesting  to 
notice  the  various  century-old  methods  used  in 
raising  the  priceless  water  for  the  fields  from  the 
three  or  four  million  wells.  Experts  confess  that 
they  cannot  greatly  improve  these  picturesque,  old 


46  Building  with  India 

methods.  But  the  modern  oil  engine — cheap,  simple, 
efficient — has  proved  its  suitability  to  Indian  condi- 
tions. Already  the  engine  has  begun  to  familiarize 
the  wealthier  farmers  with  the  advantages  of  em- 
ploying better  tools  and  appliances. 

One  great  difficulty  is  the  shortness  of  time  the 
farmer  has  to  prepare  his  land  and  to  sow  his  seed. 
The  land  for  wheat  and  other  winter  crops  has  to  be 
plowed  during  a  break  in  the  rains.  In  normal 
years  the  breaks  are  few  and  short,  so  that  with 
slow  bullocks  and  wooden  plows  the  necessary  qual- 
ity and  quantity  of  work  cannot  be  done.  A  suitable 
motor  plow  would  do  the  work  eighteen  times  as 
fast,  and  in  some  places  these  are  already  operating. 
But  when  labor  is  so  cheap  and  interest  so  high,  the 
beginning  must  be  made  with  the  lightest,  cheapest 
plows  and  work  up  gradually  as  wages  rise  and  in- 
terest falls. 

On  the  old-fashioned,  open  threshing  floors  there 
is  loss  from  insects,  vermin,  and  weather.  Thresh- 
ing and  winnowing  are  tedious  and  wasteful.  Valu- 
able suggestions  certainly  can  be  made  in  regard  to 
seed  selection,  breeding,  the  use  of  manures,  the  ro- 
tation of  crops,  fodder  raising  and  storing,  and  new 
staples  for  growing.  The  introduction  of  agricul- 
tural machinery  will  release  the  lower  class  of  labor- 
ers and  thus  make  more  possible  industrial  advance. 

The  Indian  farmer  seems  wretchedly  conserva- 
tive, but  let  us  get  his  point  of  view.  He  will  admit 
that  the  new  sugar-cane  introduced  by  the  Agricul- 
tural Department  is  better,  but  it  is  softer,  and  the 
jackals  eat  it.  Why  not  build  fences  then  ?  But  this 
is  too  big  and  expensive  a  step  to  seem  attractive. 


Handicaps  to  Progress  47 

It  is  against  his  religion  to  inoculate  his  cattle — he 
would  rather  see  them  die.  The  iron  sugar  mill 
works  with  far  less  noise,  power,  and  loss  than  the 
old  variety,  but  it  blackens  the  juice.  Why  not  clean 
it,  then?  But  again  this  appears  to  be  too  much 
trouble.  The  native  custom  is  to  transplant  five 
blades  of  rice  together.  The  Agricultural  Depart- 
ment has  been  urging  single  transplantation  as  a 
means  of  saving  four  fifths  of  the  seed.  But  the 
farmer  argues  that  the  use  of  the  single  stock  in- 
volves a  risk  of  failure;  if  planting  is  postponed  a 
month  to  make  single  transplantation  safer,  there 
is  danger  of  bad  weather  at  the  harvest.  Suppose 
you  show  a  new  staple  crop  which  admittedly  will  be 
more  profitable,  but  requires  more  work;  there  are 
farmers  who  will  reject  the  plan  because  their  lei-| 
sure  is  filled  with  talking  and  visiting  and  singingj 
and  these  things  they  value.  You  may  be  able  to 
show  that  by  the  use  of  a  certain  fertilizer  the  pro- 
duction of  paddy  (rice)  is  increased  thirty  per  cent 
the  first  year,  twenty  per  cent  the  second,  and  ten 
per  cent  the  third.  But  when  man  is  on  a  bare  sub- 
sistence basis,  he  may  not  be  able  to  make  the  in- 
vestment. 

Even  if  the  farmer  overcomes  all  obstacles  and 
inertia,  and  some  cooperative  society  lends  the  capi- 
tal, the  landlord  will  probably  absorb  the  increase. 
A  missionary  near  Benares  persuaded  a  man  to  sow 
Pusa  wheat.  In  three  years  his  rent  was  doubled! 
The  landlord  did  not  see  that  a  small  increase  from 
all  his  tenants  would  be  better  than  one  hundred  per 
cent  increase  from  one.  Missionaries  are  needed  for 
the  landlords. 


48  Building  with  India 

After  all,  however,  the  main  causes  of  poverty  in 
India  have  at  one  time  or  another  been  operative  in 
the  West.  If  we  have  prospered  economically,  whj' 
should  not  India?  Our  own  rural  individualism  and 
conservatism  are  proverbial.  There  are  plenty 
among  us  who  find  it  easier  to  cling  to  old  habits 
than  adopt  measures  of  advance.  We  have  our 
night-schools,  correspondence  courses,  and  other  de- 
vices for  popular  advance.  But  not  many  even  of 
our  own  people  have  the  ambition  and  persistence  to 
utilize  these  means  of  advance  when  they  are  pointed 
out.  Although  we  know  full  well  that  a  typewriter 
gives  better  results  in  time  and  legibility,  there 
are  not  many  of  us  independent  enough  to  give  up 
the  sentiment  of  longhand  in  personal  and  social 
correspondence.  The  case  for  insurance  of  the  right 
sort  has  been  abundantly  established ;  but  do  all  of 
our  Western  folk  act  accordingly? 

We  must  not  imagine,  however,  that  Indian  work- 
men are  irrevocably  conservative.  Singer  sewing 
machines  are  to  be  found  in  almost  every  tailor's 
shop  in  the  country.  The  fly  shuttle  has  been  widely 
adopted  in  many  areas.  Adaptations  of  Western 
plows  are  gaining  in  favor.  Some  Western  tools  are 
usually  used  by  wood  and  metal  workers.  One  finds 
them  adopting  screw-presses  for  the  extraction  of 
oil  from  seed,  rotary  methods  for  the  preparation  of 
warp,  and  the  device  of  the  subdivision  of  labor. 
They  are  conservative,  but  they  know  their  own 
business  fairly  well.  Many  of  the  so-called  improve- 
ments suggested  to  them  are  really  unsuitable.  The 
Indian  workmen  on  the  whole  are  as  improvable  as 
our  forefathers  were. 


Handicaps  to  Progress  49 

VII 

India  has  many  handicaps  to  overcome  in  the 
realm  of  industry.  There  is  plenty  of  capital,  and 
year  by  year  it  is  increasing,  for  the  ruling  passion 
is  still  to  hoard  wealth  in  the  form  of  gold  and  silver 
jewelry.  India  is  notorious  as  an  absorber  of  bul- 
lion. It  has  been  estimated  that  in  a  single  year 
India  absorbed  an  amount  of  silver  and  gold  suffi- 
cient to  replace  the  whole  of  the  cotton  mills  of  Bom- 
bay and  the  jute  mills  of  Bengal.  It  is  five  times  the 
whole  amount  spent  annually  in  education.  In  a 
year  and  a  half  it  would  provide  the  440,000,000 
rupees  which  the  irrigation  commission  reported 
could  be  judicially  expended  in  bringing  six  million 
more  acres  under  irrigation.^ 

Unfortunately  this  capital  is  diffused  and  can  be- 
come useful  only  when  placed  in  the  hands  of  com- 
petent and  responsible  administrators.  But  this 
would  require  an  instinct  for  cooperative  effort,  an 
acquaintance  with  the  principles  of  credit  and 
finance,  a  feeling  of  security  and  trust,  and  the 
growth  of  a  class  of  efficient  managers.  Such  bases 
of  commerce  and  industry  are  as  yet  only  slightly 
developed. 

The  rapid  advance  of  modern  industrialism  is 
bringing  its  vast  problems  to  India — problems 
which  England  faced  in  the  eighteenth  and  nine- 
teenth centuries.  About  the  cities,  factories  and 
joint  stock  companies  are  being  rapidly  formed — 
906  new  companies  were  floated  in  the  year  1919- 
1920.  There  is  as  yet  no  factory  population  such  as 
exists  in    Western    lands,    consisting    of    persons 

*Chatterton,  Alfred,  Industrial  Evolution  in  India,  p.  9. 


50  Building  with  India 

trained  from  youth  in  one  particular  class  of  work 
and  dependent  on  that  for  a  livelihood.  The  Indian 
factory  hand  is  primarily  an  agriculturist  whose 
home  remains  in  his  native  village.  In  many  cases 
Indian  artisans  leave  wives  and  children  behind  and 
regularly  return  to  them  and  to  the  care  of  their 
crops.  This  plan  has  the  advantage  of  keeping  the 
laborer  independent  of  the  employer  during  a  transi- 
tion stage.  But  since  housing  conditions  do  not  allow 
the  laborer  to  take  his  family  with  him  on  his  mi- 
grations, grave  moral  situations  are  developing  in 
the  cities.  These  laborers  are  content  with  a  very 
low  standard  of  comfort.  Speaking  generally,  an 
increase  in  wages  results  in  fewer  days'  work.  As 
yet  they  are  not  stimulated  to  more  regular  work 
and  greater  efficiency  by  a  yearning  for  an  increased 
standard  pf  living.  In  spite  of  low  wages  many 
managers  testify  that  production  is  cheaper  by  the 
high-priced,  but  more  highly  skilled  Western  labor. 
There  is,  however,  no  inherent  reason  why 
Indian  labor  should  be  inefficient.  Signs  of  discon- 
tent are  arising.  Influenza  and  plague  have  reduced 
the  labor  supply  and  revealed  the  workman's  indis- 
pensability.  The  first  Trade  Union  Congress  was 
held  in  1920,  although  there  is  probably  not  a  trade 
union  in  India  over  five  years  old.  Strikes  are  get- 
ting common.  At  one  time  in  Bombay  the  postal 
and  telegraph  men,  the  gas  workers,  and  tramway 
employees  were  all  out.  Sixteen  headlines  in  a  single 
issue  of  a  leading  north  India  journal  pertained  to 
strikes.  Even  the  coolie  is  learning  the  secret  spell 
which  has  made  European  and  American  labor  a 
power  instead  of  a  commodity. 


Handicaps  to  Progress  51 

India's  factory  law  is  sadly  deficient.  But  in 
judging  India  we  have  to  remember  that  at  the  In- 
ternational Labor  Conference  in  Washington  six- 
teen countries  were  listed  as  having  eight-hour  laws, 
and  from  that  list  the  United  States  was  missing — 
such  laws  not  having  been  passed  by  certain  states. 
Twenty-one  nations  make  special  regulations  for 
the  employment  of  mothers  before  and  after  child- 
birth, and  from  this  list  also  the  United  States  was 
missing.  Nearly  every  industrial  country  forbids 
the  employment  in  factories  of  children  under  four- 
teen. Here  again  the  United  States  falls  short — 
along  with  India. 

VIII 

The  seriousness  of  India's  economic  need  must  be 
evident  for  many  things  depend  on  its  relief.  Her 
death-rate  is  so  large  partly  because  she  cannot 
afford  doctors  and  nurses.  In  part  she  is  illiterate 
because  she  cannot  be  taxed  for  sufficient  schools 
and  teachers.  Adequate  recreational  facilities,  de- 
veloped social  life,  good  churches,  communication 
with  outside  forces,  and  influences  making  for  pro- 
gress, a  host  of  by-products  in  culture,  education, 
comfort,  and  efficiency  await  a  better  economic 
basis.  We  may  well  recognize  the  inadequacy  of  the 
totality  of  earthly  conditions,  though  improved  to 
the  utmost,  if  the  soul  remains  unsatisfied  because 
God  is  not  present  in  the  life.  But  while  men  possess 
bodies,  we  must  help  them  to  create  those  outward 
conditions  wherein  an  enlarged  mind  and  soul — 
among  the  earliest  results  of  Christian  conversion — 
can  best  find  expression.    Would  you  expect  a  Chris- 


52  Building  with  India 

tian  society  of  any  proportion  to  grow  up  from  an 
indigent  outcaste  class  unless  there  is  a  decided  im- 
provement in  its  economic  environment  induced  by 
outside  pressure  and  consummated  by  itself? 

A  surge  of  questions  comes  to  the  Christian  thinker 
in  this  realm.     What  are  the  relative  chances  of 
India's  being  exploited  perpetually  for  the  commer- 
cial well-being  of  other  nations;  of  India's  copying 
^  Western  methods  so  thoroughly  that  she  will  become 
J  just  another  in  the  feverish  international  group ;  or 
/  of  India's  developing  into  an  independent  national 
)  personality  maintaining  her  own  distinct  character 
^  while  contributing  her  share  to  the  service  of  the 
world  alongside  of  other  nations?    Should  missions 
take  a  part  in  shaping  labor  legislation  or  in  direct- 
ing labor  agitation  ?    Should  they  conduct  investiga- 
tions?   Should  mission  boards  assign  to  India  indus- 
trial welfare  workers?    Would  as  many  industrial 
experts  offer  their  services  as  physicians  do  at  pres- 
ent?   Are  we  to  take  our  social  solutions  to  India  or 
quietly  leave  them  at  home  and  let  India  blunder 
along  without  the  benefit  of  our  experience?    As  the 
old  village  communities  break  up  more  and  more 
under  the  profound  influence  of  labor  conditions, 
,   who  is  to  help  them  anticipate  the  resulting  moral 
strain?    Who  is  to  exhibit  the  ethical  and  Christian 
use  of  machinery  and  power  as  a  model  for  this  new 
industrial  reign?     Who  more  than  Christians  can 
instil  the  needed  knowledge  and  incentive  and  hope 
into  India's  laboring  classes?     Can  the  economic 
problems  of  India  be  solved  without  a  moral  change 
in  the  hearts  of  men? 


Handicaps  to  Progress  53 

IX 

India's  educational  handicap  is  very  marked.  Out 
of  38,000,000  children  of  school  age  in  India  only 
about  8,000,000  all  told  are  receiving  any  kind  of  an 
education.  Imagine  the  sad  significance  of  30,000,000 
children  growing  up  absolutely  illiterate — one 
only  out  of  every  three  boys  and  one  out  of  every 
fifteen  girls  getting  to  school.  In  India  as  a  whole 
only  one  in  seventeen  people  can  read  and  write.; 
That  is,  India's  literacy  percentage  is  only  5.8  perl 
cent  as  against  92  per  cent  in  the  United  Kingdom 
and  95  per  cent  in  Japan.  Three  out  of  four  villages 
have  no  school. 

In  India,  however,  ideas  percolate  and  propagate 
themselves  even  below  the  levels  of  literacy.  One 
may,  therefore,  well  try  to  formulate  reasons  which 
will  seem  cogent  to  a  villager  as  to  why  he  should 
bother  with  schools  at  all.  The  case  is  by  no  means 
clear  to  him.  You  can  tell  him  that  if  he  can  read 
newspapers,  he  will  not  be  at  the  mercy  of  rumor 
and  panic ;  that  if  he  can  get  the  gist  out  of  a  gov- 
ernment bulletin,  he  may  be  able  to  save  his  crop ;  or 
that  ability  to  write  a  letter  will  free  him  from  going 
to  a  professional  letter  writer  when  he  wants  to 
send  a  message  to  his  friend  who  has  left  the  village ; 
that  schools  would  enable  him  to  read  the  Bible  or 
(what  would  strongly  appeal  to  his  music  loving 
soul)  the  hymns,  and  that  he  could  avoid  the  very 
common  type  of  cheating  indulged  in  by  railway 
ticket  agents  who  give  the  wrong  ticket  to  the  peas- 
ant who  cannot  read  the  name  of  the  station  on  his 
ticket.  Since  he  cannot  do  simple  accounts,  the  vil- 
lager is  also  at  the  mercy   of   the   indispensable 


54  Building  with  India 

money-lender.  Furthermore,  ignorance  is  the  cause 
of  fear,  and  modern  psychology  is  revealing  how 
fear  drains  vitality.  Literacy  is  the  key  for  unlock- 
ing the  world's  treasures  of  civilization  and  culture. 

However,  many  of  these  reasons  so  obvious  to  us 
will  not  appeal  at  all  to  the  peasant  farmer.  With 
more  insight  than  professional  educators  often  have 
shown,  he  sees  that  the  only  kind  of  education  of- 
fered does  not  fit  a  child  for  the  life  he  must  actually 
lead.  Farmers  have  a  prejudice  against  education 
— ^the  kind  of  prejudice  that  is  found  in  every  rural 
society  in  the  world.  They  think  that  the  shade  and 
confinement  of  the  schoolroom  rob  the  children  of 
their  hereditary  vigor  for  working  in  the  fields 
under  the  hot  sun,  and  that  school  life  is  liable  to 
wean  them  away  from  the  village  entirely.  More- 
over, they  are  so  poor  that  even  if  they  did  desire 
education  for  their  children,  they  know  that  little 
children  of  six  and  seven  must  begin  to  earn  a  meal 
a  day  and  a  cloth  per  year  by  grazing  animals,  or 
they  must  look  after  still  younger  children  while  the 
mother  is  grinding  grain  or  working  in  the  fields. 
After  a  child  is  ten  years  old,  it  becomes  a  real  sac- 
rifice to  send  him  to  school,  for  the  rural  economic 
system  is  adjusted  to  a  family's  receiving  the  income 
of  the  children.  It  is  hard  for  us  to  realize  what  it 
would  be  like  to  grow  up  in  an  environment  with  no 
tradition  of  literacy. 

One  way  of  estimating  the  educational  task  before 
India  is  to  note  how  slow  the  progress  has  been.  In 
successive  decades  the  number  of  males  per  thou- 
sand who  could  read  and  write  is  as  follows:  1881, 
66;  1891,  87;  1901,  98;  1911,  110.    Acts  permitting 


Handicaps  to  Progress  55 

the  introduction  of  compulsory  primary  education 
in  local  areas  have  been  passed  in  at  least  five  prov- 
inces. But  the  idea  of  compulsion  with  its  inevi- 
table concomitant  of  increased  taxation  evidently 
does  not  appeal  to  the  imagination  of  local  authori- 
ties. For  although  the  acts  have  been  on  the  statute 
books  for  several  years,  very  few  municipalities 
have  taken  advantage  of  them. 

At  the  other  end  of  the  scale  are  the  college  stu- 
dents. Year  after  year  hundreds  of  them  go  forth 
in  a  state  of  moral  and  intellectual  tension.  From 
their  Western  education  has  come  a  continuous 
stream  of  ideas  and  impulses  which  are  usually  at 
utter  variance  with  their  previous  ideals  of  life. 
Some  of  these  ideals  may  be  good,  some  bad,  for  In- 
dia, and  these  students  are  eager  to  be  loyal  to  all 
that  is  best  in  their  own  civilization.  More  than  ever 
before  do  these  men  need  sympathetic  guidance.  In 
the  depth  of  their  being  there  is  a  still  more  funda- 
mental need  not  always  acknowledged — ^the  need  of 
a  religion  that  can  command  the  full  obedience  of 
heart  and  mind,  and  that  can  fill  one  with  inspira- 
tion for  the  reverence  of  personality,  the  brother- 
hood among  all  men,  and  unselfish  service  beyond 
one's  group.    They  need  what  Christ  alone  can  give. 

Closely  connected  with  education  is  the  state  of 
communication  in  a  country.  We  are  told  that  de- 
velopments in  the  mechanism  of  intercourse — rail-i 
ways,  telephones,  telegraphs,  printing  presses,  phoJ 
tographs,  phonographs,  etc., — determine  nearly 
everything  that  is  characteristic  of  the  psychology  of 
modern  life.  These  things  make  for  the  expansion 
of  human  nature.    They  make  it  possible  for  society 


56  Building  with  India 

to  be  organized  more  and  more  on  the  higher  facul- 
ties of  man,  on  intelligence  and  sympathy,  rather 
than  on  authority,  caste,  and  routine.^  Looking  at 
the  state  of  India's  means  of  communication  from 
several  points  of  view,  we  see  a  real  handicap.  In 
1917-18  India  had  12  newspapers  and  periodicals 
per  million  inhabitants  as  opposed  to  50  in  Japan, 
190  in  the  United  Kingdom,  and  225  in  the  United 
States.  Post-office  articles  (letters,  newspapers, 
and  parcels)  to  the  extent  of  3.6  per  person  were 
circulated  in  India.  The  corresponding  figures  for 
Japan  are  34;  for  the  United  Kingdom,  123;  for  the 
United  States,  136.  The  telegrams  per  hundred 
people  per  year  in  India  are  6.3  as  opposed  to  73  in 
Japan,  154  in  Canada,  and  198  in  the  United  King- 
dom. The  numbers  of  telephones  in  use  per  10,000 
inhabitants  are  as  follows:  Chicago,  1850;  New 
York,  1170;  Montreal,  800;  London,  390;  Tokyo, 
200;  Bombay,  4;  Calcutta,  3. 

X 

It  is  unfortunate  that  the  most  outstanding  char- 
acteristic of  Hindu  social  structure  must  be  placed 
/  among  India's  handicaps.  Whenever  we  think  of 
'  India,  we  think  of  caste,  and  caste  is  a  tremendous 
drag  on  progress.  It  is  very  hard  to  find  any  anal- 
ogy for  caste  in  our  Western  life.  We  may  recall  the 
closely  interwoven  social  texture  of  Europe  in  the 
Middle  Ages — clergy  and  laity,  feudal  baron  and 
feudal  squire,  yeoman  and  serf,  burgher  and  ap- 
prentice, master  and  servant.  Everything  was  or- 
dered and  regulated  whether  by  birth  or  custom. 

*Cf.  Cooley,  C.  N.,  Social  Organization,  p.  81. 


Handicaps  to  Progress  57 

Villeinage  bound  down  the  medieval  serf  to  the  soil 
by  birth.  Men  and  women  were  born  to  a  certain 
position,  and  the  system  exercised  very  large  con- 
trol over  man,  woman,  and  child.  Or  we  may  notice 
how  many  an  Englishman  thinks  a  tradesman  can- 
not be  a  gentleman  and  will  absolutely  refuse  to  dine 
with  one.  Many  of  our  trade  unions  are  limited  to 
sons  of  members,  and  each  is  kept  strictly  to  his  part 
of  the  job — ^the  shoemaker  must  not  repair,  and  the 
cobbler  must  not  make. 

None  of  our  Western  class  or  religious  distinc-fj 
tions,  however,  are  buttressed  with  that  philosophi-/l 
cal  justification  for  separateness  and  unbrotherli- 
ness  that  makes  a  Hindu  glory  or  acquiesce  in  his 
status.  To  the  orthodox,  the  different  castes  are  not 
simply  different  classes,  but  separate  creations  from 
essentially  different  parts  of  Brahma — his  mouth, 
arms,  thighs,  and  feet.  The  universally  accepted 
doctrines  of  Karma  and  transmigration  provide  the 
philosophy  of  the  system.  According  to  the  former, 
life  here  is  measured  out  to  us,  both  in  quality  and 
quantity,  to  expiate  exactly  the  deeds  of  a  previous 
existence.  Thus  a  Brahman  is  a  Brahman  because 
of  the  noble  deeds  of  his  previous  existence.  A  Sudra 
has  merited  his  low  position  because  of  past  short- 
coming. The  classes  in  society  are  not  fluid  as  with 
us,  for  an  actual  soul-difference  divides  them.  In 
order  to  be  re-incarnated  into  a  better  status  after 
death,  it  is  essential  to  conform  to  the  duties  and  ob- 
ligations of  the  status  in  which  one  now  is.  Hence 
the  roots  of  aspirations  for  this  life  are  cut.  Not 
only  may  the  different  groups  not  interdine  or  inter- 
marry, but  the  basis  for  real  friendship  and  inter- 


V 


58  Building  with  India 

course  is  not  there.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the 
most  ardent  nationalists  are  declaring  that  caste 
must  go.  Rabindranath  Tagore  says,  "The  re- 
generation of  the  Indian  people,  to  my  mind,  directly 
and  perhaps  solely  depends  upon  the  removal  of  this 
condition." 

If  it  were  not  so  tragic,  it  would  be  amusing  to 
see  manifestations  of  the  caste  spirit  on  every  side 
in  India.  A  little  five  year  old  Brahman  boy  in  one 
of  our  mission  kindergartens  was  given  clay  with 
which  to  model.  He  refused  to  touch  it.  "The  pot- 
ter is  of  low  caste."  He  could  not  resist  watching  the 
others,  however.  The  next  day  he  poked  the  clay 
with  his  finger.  The  fourth  day  he  took  the  clay 
with  the  rest,  and  nothing  was  said  about  the  potter. 
A  pious  Vaishnavite  matron  will  not  eat  with  her 
own  children  for  fear  of  becoming  unacceptable  to 
the  Almighty.  A  stable  servant  will  sweep  up  the 
stall,  but  will  be  fined  by  his  caste  if  he  also  sweeps 
your  driveway.  There  are  hosts  of  taboos.  One 
must  not  marry  or  interdine  outside  one's  sub-caste. 
Since  there  are  over  two  thousand  of  these  exclusive 
compartments  some  are  of  necessity  small.  Cases 
have  been  known  where  men  have  had  to  wait  for 
their  wives  to  be  born.  A  progressive  father  in  a 
limited  and  backward  caste  has  to  face  the  practical 
certainty  that  if  he  educates  his  daughter,  she  will 
have  to  marry  an  uneducated  man. 

Religion  tends  to  be  reduced  to  the  observance  of 
countless  caste  rules.  If  a  man  will  only  observe 
these,  he  may  believe  anything  he  wishes  and  still 
remain  a  Hindu.  If  he  should  be  excommunicated 
by  his  caste,  his  relatives  would  shun  him,  the  mar- 


Handicaps  to  Progress  59 

riage  of  his  children  would  become  almost  impos- 
sible, and  he  very  likely  would  be  boycotted  in  busi- 
ness and  socially.  Knowing  the  certainty  with 
which  breach  of  caste  law  is  punished,  a  person 
tends  to  dread  more  the  taking  of  water  from  the 
hand  of  a  lower  caste  man  than  he  does  some  ethical 
wrong.  Furthermore,  the  caste  spirit  takes  posses- 
sion of  the  mind  and  tends  to  encourage  closed 
groups.  This  makes  cooperation  very  difficult  and 
permits  a  powerful  separative  force  within  the 
nation. 

Yet  even  in  regard  to  a  custom  like  caste,  so  uni- 
versally condemned  by  Westerners  and  increasingly 
frowned  upon  by  most  modern  Indian  leaders,  there 
are  aspects  of  relief  to  the  Indian  heart.  Caste  has 
enabled  people  within  narrow  limits  to  unite  and  co- 
operate; it  has  formed  one  agency  of  social  control 
providing  certain  moral  restraints.  To  some  extent 
it  has  acted  as  a  system  of  trade-guilds  providing 
for  division  of  labor.  Caste  backing  is  a  real  sup- 
port in  times  of  famine  or  misfortune,  and  in  this 
whole  conception  of  group  loyalty  we  see  a  finer  side 
of  the  caste  system.  The  Hindu  gets  with  the  caste 
system  a  sense  of  cosmic  order.  Disasters  and  in- 
equalities in  this  life  do  not  perplex  him  because 
they  are  the  merited  results  of  deeds  in  a  previous 
existence.  People  are  born  into  the  various  walks 
of  life  according  to  their  desert,  and  by  faithfulness 
to  the  ceremonial  and  caste  observances  of  that 
sphere,  they  qualify  for  a  higher  life.  Social  posi- 
tion is  not  determined,  they  say,  by  wealth  or  power, 
but  automatically  by  the  stage  of  one's  inner 
development.    What  Western  nation  unquestionably 


6o  Building  with  India 

gives  the  highest  rank,  not  to  trader  or  soldier  or 
ruler,  but  to  spiritual  leaders  such  as  the  Brahmans 
have  been  regarded?  If  you  grant  their  presup- 
positions, caste  life  takes  on  dignity  and  ethical  sig- 
nificance. One  of  the  causes  of  the  failure  of  efforts 
against  caste  has  been  the  refusal  to  admit  the  ele- 
ments of  utility  in  it. 

The  caste  system  like  a  great  glacier  moves 
through  India,  melting  temporarily  before  some 
obstacle  only  to  harden  again  as  it  slowly  rounds 
some  corner  of  its  progress.  People  will  travel  in 
the  same  coach  or  take  water  from  the  same  hydrant 
because  it  is  manifestly  impossible  to  have  two  thou- 
sand railway  lines  or  water  systems.  Similarly, 
aerated  water,  tinned  biscuit,  and  patent  medicines 
have  been  accepted.  Intelligent,  educated  men  more 
and  more  refuse  to  be  bound  by  the  taboo  against 
interdining  and  crossing  the  ocean.  A  government 
report  described  a  sensational  pollution  case  in  Cali- 
cut where  a  Western-trained  Indian  doctor,  who 
happened  to  be  of  a  low  caste,  was  prosecuted  for 
polluting  the  village  tank  by  walking  too  near  it  and 
was  in  the  end  acquitted.  But  one  can  hardly  herald 
these  adjustments  as  signs  that  caste  is  disappear- 
ing. In  spite  of  many  concessions  to  convenience  in 
non-essentials,  caste  remains  almost  untouched  in 
essentials.  The  glacier  must  come  into  a  different 
climate  to  be  melted  away.  Realizing  how  India  can 
never  come  to  her  own  highest  self-realization  or  to 
her  greatest  contribution  as  a  partner  in  world 
service  until  caste  is  abolished,  how  would  you  at- 
tempt to  help  her  overcome  it?  Would  you  attack  the 
philosophical  presuppositions  at  the  basis  of  caste? 


'*'^>nW- 


11^ 


WAITING 


Many  old  Hindu  women  spend  their  last  years  in  a  cease- 
less round  of  religious  observances  and  wait  beside  their 
shrines  for  death  to  come  to  them  so  that  their  bodies  may  be 
cremated  at  a  holy  place.  There  is  religious  devotion  here 
that  should  find  truer  and  more  satisfying  expression. 


So 

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Handicaps  to  Progress  6z 

Or  would  you  dwell  on  the  unsocial  results  of  its 
working?  More  important  still  is  this  question: 
Would  you  be  able  to  outline  the  constructive  Chris- 
tian principles  which  could  be  applied  to  transform 
Indian  society? 

XI 

India  is  undeniably  handicapped  by  the  position 
she  gives  to  women.  In  the  pressure  of  the  modern 
world,  India  must  make  a  change  here  or  else  lag 
far  behind.  Let  us,  however,  approach  this  question 
with  a  humble  sense  of  our  own  deficiencies.  Twen- 
ty-one different  nations  gave  votes  to  women  before 
they  could  be  granted  in  the  American  democracy. 
Women  workers  in  America  have  many  a  grievance 
in  being  refused  admission  to  unions  or  in  being  re- 
fused a  charter  if  they  organize  separately.  All 
around  the  world  woman  is  the  depressed  sex.  Very 
few  even  among  ourselves  have  begun  clearly  to 
vision,  not  a  man-made  world  or  even  a  woman- 
made  world — but  a  world  made  just  human. 

Belief  in  woman's  inferiority  is  a  prepossession  of 
the  man-mind  in  India.  Hindu  lawgivers  unani-  \ 
mously  declare  that  women  can  never  have  any  in- 
dependence, but  must  always  be  in  subjection  to 
father,  husband,  or  son.  The  essential  inferiority 
of  women  is  brought  out  in  many  a  passage  of  Hindu 
doctrine,  such  as:  "Day  and  night  must  women 
be  kept  in  dependence  by  the  male  members  of  the 
family.  They  are  never  fit  for  independence.  They 
are  as  impure  as  falsehood  itself.  That  is  a  fixed 
rule."^  This  immemorial  teaching  has  been  accepted 

"Manu  IX,  2,  3,  18. 


62  Building  with  India 

by  the  women.  The  lower  caste  women  have  more 
freedom  than  those  of  the  higher  castes.  They  may 
go  about  from  village  to  village  with  far  less  re- 
straint. They  are  free  to  remarry.  They  work  for 
pay,  as  higher  caste  women  do  not,  and  so  are  eco- 
nomically valuable  to  their  husbands,  and  therefore 
less  liable  to  divorce.  The  prosperous  caste  wife 
who  bears  sons  is  immensely  better  off  than  those 
lower  down,  but  the  unsuccessful  high-caste  wife 
who  has  no  son  is  immensely  more  unhappy  than  the 
lowcaste  woman. 

The  desolation  of  Indian  widowhood  awakens  our 
pity.  The  widow's  lot  is  a  hard  one.  Especially  do 
our  hearts  go  out  to  the  pathetic  little  child  widows, 
so  numerous  and  so  helpless.  To  see  the  bright  jewels 
and  garments  suddenly  removed  and  the  head 
shaven,  to  realize  the  inevitable  future  of  isolation 
and  drudgery  or  shameless  life,  is  a  terrible  shock. 
However,  one  may  inquire  into  the  subject  far 
enough  to  discover  that,  strangely  enough,  all 
widows  do  not  have  a  rebellious  spirit.  For  many 
widows  the  whole  ideal  of  self-respecting  woman- 
hood is  such  that  they  would  not  want  to  be  jeweled 
or  dressed  in  fine  linen  after  their  lords  had  passed 
away.  A  law  legalizing  the  remarriage  of  widows 
has  been  in  force  since  1856,  but  relatively  few  have 
taken  advantage  of  it.  Hindu  women  who  have  not 
come  under  Western  influence  have  an  intense  dis- 
like of  the  idea  of  a  second  union.  Even  when  re- 
formers arrange  for  second  husbands,  nine  out  of 
every  ten  widows  refuse  to  remarry  as  being  con- 
trary to  the  age-long  ideal  that  marriage  is  for 
eternity  and  that  for  one  woman  there  is  one  man 


Handicaps  to  Progress  63 

only.  Hindus  at  their  best  revere  these  widows. 
Widows  at  their  best  renounce  the  world  and  devote 
themselves  wholly  to  meditation  on  God  and  service 
to  man.  If  wealthy,  they  will  provide  for  digging 
a  village  tank  for  water  or  for  building  a  temple  or 
for  feeding  the  poor.  This  is  the  ideal — by  no  means 
always  the  practice — ^that  lessens  the  harshness  of 
this  custom  to  an  Indian.  Indians  themselves  ac- 
knowledge evils  and  abuses  in  widowhood.  Reform- 
ers make  this  one  of  their  central  causes.  But  we 
only  weaken  the  effectiveness  of  our  remonstrance 
if  we  fail  to  see  the  gleam  upon  this  custom  as  seen 
from  the  other  side. 

In  order  to  appraise  aright  the  position  of  women 
in  India,  it  is  necessary  to  understand  the  joint  f  am-  j 
ily  system  which  has  prevailed  for  almost  twenty-  I 
five  hundred  years  and  constitutes  one  of  the  most 
marked  and  characteristic  institutions  in  the  world. 
It  is  patriarchal  in  form.  The  sons  and  grandsons 
bring  their  wives  to  the  family  home,  so  that  cousins 
are  as  intimate  almost  as  brothers.  As  many  as 
fifty  individuals  and  three  generations  may  thus  be 
living  together.  All  salaries  and  incomes,  no  matter 
how  varied  in  amount,  are  brought  to  the  common 
purse.  Such  families  will  combine  to  send  one  boy 
to  the  university,  hoping  that  his  future  income  will 
swell  the  common  funds.  Those  who  are  entitled 
to  share  in  the  family  property  may  claim  all  their 
necessary  expenses  from  its  income.  Such  expenses 
would  include  maintenance  for  the  individual  mem- 
ber, his  wife  and  children,  for  all  usual  and  proper 
religious  observances,  and  for  the  marriage  ex- 
penses of  his  daughters.    But  the  right  of  mainte- 


64  Building  with  India 

nance  goes  further  than  this.  It  extends  to  those 
members  of  the  joint  family  who,  on  account  of  any 
bodily  or  mental  defect,  have  been  disqualified  from 
inheriting,  to  illegitimate  sons,  concubines,  and 
widows  of  members  of  the  family. 

This  duty  of  a  householder  to  maintain  the  de- 
pendent members  of  his  family  has  always  been 
recognized  as  a  paramount  obligation,  even  religious 
sacrifices  being  supposed  to  lose  their  effect  if  there- 
by a  man  deprives  himself  of  the  means  of  main- 
taining his  dependents.  This  is  one  place  where  an 
Indian  regards  his  system  as  distinctly  superior  to 
that  of  the  West,  for  he  is  inclined  to  shudder  at  the 
way  we  wash  our  hands  of  responsibility  except  for 
the  nearest  of  blood  kin.  He  prides  himself  that  no 
"united  charities"  are  necessary.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  system  may  induce  some  members  to  be 
lazy,  it  may  sap  the  roots  of  industry  and  enterprise, 
and  may  lead  a  successful  man  to  be  proud  of  the 
number  of  dependents  attached  to  his  household. 
The  oldest  male  is  naturally  head  of  the  family.  A 
full  college  professor,  for  example,  may  still  be  a 
minor  in  the  family  with  no  property  of  his  own, 
pooling  his  entire  income.  The  head  mother  holds 
sway  over  all  the  home  economy. 

Such  a  system  is  marked  by  the  solidarity  of  the 
group,  as  compared  with  the  far  greater  individual- 
ism of  the  West.  Individual  initiative,  indepen- 
dence, and  responsibility  are  not  so  much  developed 
as  with  us ;  and  lack  of  privacy,  jealousy,  backbiting, 
and  intrigue  are  often  a  result  of  the  system.  On 
the  other  hand,  loyalty,  service,  and  a  sense  of  re- 
sponsibility for  fellow-members  of  the  family  are 


Handicaps  to  Progress  65 

often  encouraged  by  the  joint  family.  In  these 
homes  you  will  frequently  find  women  marked  by 
poise  and  dignity,  sympathetic  and  hospitable  to  a 
degree.  The  vast  majority  are  not  restless  with 
their  lot,  knowing  no  other  as  possible  or  right.  But 
what  peace  they  have  is  secured  by  the  negation  of 
abundant  life. 

A  little  reflection  will  show  how  the  individual 
thus  becomes  submerged  in  the  family ;  life  decisions 
become  family  affairs;  and  the  individual  woman 
has  a  deep  sense  of  solidarity  and  ever-present  sup-  ^ 
port.  Hence,  where  the  joint  family  is  breaking  up 
under  the  influence  of  Western  standards,  girls  are 
becoming  heads  of  families  without  being  able  to 
rely  as  in  former  days  on  the  advice  of  older  rela- 
tives,  and  widows  have  no  longer  the  same  care  and 
protection. 

In  a  marked  way  this  family  interest  dominates 
each  marriage  in  the  household.  For  there  is  also 
a  longitudinal  solidarity  in  the  family — the  fore- 
fathers and  the  present  living  members  are  bound 
together  so  that  the  good  of  the  one  is  related  to  the 
good  of  the  other.  The  welfare  of  the  family  is  de- 
pendent upon  the  condition  of  ancestors,  and  their 
welfare  in  turn  is  entirely  dependent  upon  a  certain 
simple  annual  ceremony  (the  offering  of  water  and  | 
rice)  which  can  be  performed  only  by  a  male  heir.       * 

Once  adopt  this  belief,  and  the  pressure  on  mak- 
ing sure  of  a  male  heir  becomes  tremendous.  The 
entire  welfare  of  your  whole  family  connection 
would  depend  upon  it.  The  marriage  of  your  son 
would  not  be  a  matter  of  his  individual  choice.  It 
would  be  the  concern  of  all.    Its  object  would  be  to 


66  Building  with  India 

get  a  male  heir  who  could  continue  the  essential 
ceremonies.  It  would  be  not  a  matter  of  falling  in 
love  and  courtship,  but  a  serious  family  duty  ar- 
ranged by  the  parents.  Hence  in  order  to  make  more 
certain  of  marriage  and  of  offspring,  marriage  is 
pushed  down  to  a  younger  age  so  as  to  take  advan- 
tage of  the  first  approach  of  puberty.  To  marry  and 
have  a  son  is  a  debt  which  a  man  owes  to  his  ances- 
try. To  be  barren  is  an  exceedingly  serious  thing. 
The  unhappy  woman  who  has  no  child  is  sometimes 
driven  away,  or  runs  away  because  of  bad  treat- 
ment, and  then  the  village  will  not  have  her  back 
again.  If  she  has  gone  wrong,  they  will  not  let  her 
own  mother  take  her  back.  Believing  that  an  heir 
is  essential  to  the  welfare  of  the  whole  group,  a  bar- 
ren wife  not  infrequently  suggests  that  a  second 
wife  be  brought  into  the  household  so  that  a  son 
may  be  assured.  It  is  against  this  elemental  reli- 
gious background  that  we  must  think  of  child  mar- 
riage and  polygamy.^ 

XII 

India's  greatest  handicap  is  Hinduism  itself.  The 
masses  hold  on  to  social  customs  which  sorely  need 
reform,  but  it  is  not  enough  simply  to  say  that  they 
are  conservative.  The  root  of  the  trouble  is  their 
religion.  Reforms  go  hard  because  they  cut  across 
the  spirit  and  letter  of  the  traditional  faith.  For 
over  twenty  centuries  certain  beliefs  have  been  in- 
grained— ^that  it  is  sinful  not  to  marry  a  daughter 


^Vivid  pictures  are  given  of  family  life  in  North  India  by 
"An  Elderly  Spinster"  in  The  Atlantic,  Vol.  121:  43-49,  601- 
614;  122:  467-79;  127:  180-8.  See  also  Asia,  July,  1921,  pp. 
575-80. 


Handicaps  to  Progress  67 

before  puberty;  that  marriage  is  for  eternity;  that 
a  widow  who  remarries  wrongs  her  husband;  that 
the  ancestors  will  fall  from  heaven  and  the  whole 
family  be  destroyed  unless  the  proper  ceremonies 
are  regularly  performed;  and  that  woman  is  essen- 
tially inferior  to  man.  Great  Hindu  thinkers  of  the 
past  did  not  question  these  positions.  It  is  not  that 
the  father  of  a  virgin  widow  is  callous  to  his  little 
daughter's  plight.  But  he  together  with  all  his  caste 
friends,  relatives,  and  womenfolk  firmly  believe 
that  their  present-day  social  customs  are  based  on 
the  Shastras,  and  that  the  Shastras  are  supernatu- 
ral, God-revealed,  unchangeable,  and  that  their  vio- 
lation is  sinful.  Many  are  suppressing  their  innate 
sense  of  right  and  wrong  on  the  authority  of  sacred 
scriptures.  The  Indian's  conscience  is  as  real  a 
thing  as  ours,  but  the  Hindu  speculative  system 
makes  the  appeal  to  conscience  far  less  powerful 
than  when  through  Christ  we  are  brought  to  see 
the  holiness  of  God.  While  in  modern  times  many 
educated  Hindus  have  given  up  some  of  these  beliefs, 
child  marriage  continues  in  order  to  keep  the  girls 
safe. 

Thus  the  masses  are  impervious  to  reform.  Their  f 
practice  is  determined  by  religion,  not  by  individual  / 
conscience  and  reason.    Suppose  you  get  them  to  ac-' 
knowledge  that  their  uneducated  women  can  talk 
of  little  but  jewels,  needlework,  clothes,  and  chil- 
dren, and  cannot  contribute  what  otherwise  they 
might  to  the  welfare  of  their  country.    Suppose  you 
do  lay  bare  the  fact  that  perpetual  widowhood  com- 
bined with  child  marriage  makes  marriages  of  wid- 
owers of  forty  or  fifty  or  even  of  seventy  years  with 


68  Building  with  India 

girls  of  twelve  by  no  means  uncommon;  suppose 
doctors  do  point  out  the  results  on  the  child  wife 
of  the  pitiless  incontinence  of  the  remarried  man; 
suppose  you  do  show  that  child  marriage  in  general 
takes  away  five  years  of  happy  girlhood,  prevents 
all  but  the  most  elementary  education,  leads  to  physi- 
cal degeneration,  and  constitutes  one  of  the  sad- 
dest things  in  Indian  life.  These  arguments  are 
beside  the  point,  for  the  position  taken  by  reformers 
of  necessity  implies  the  displacement  of  the  essen- 
tially Hindu  foundation  of  the  family,  although  few 
acknowledge  this  even  to  themselves.  Even  many 
reformers  need  to  be  convinced  that  the  reform  of 
social  customs  really  involves  the  repudiation  of 
principles  which  gave  rise  to  these  customs.  Until 
the  roots  in  Hinduism  are  cut,  social  reform  will  be 
faltering,  half-hearted,  and  inconsistent.  Conserva- 
tives are  quite  right  in  persisting  in  the  feeling 
that  the  adoption  of  reforms  is  essentially  disloyal 
to  Hinduism.  To  ask  them  to  postpone  the  marriage 
of  a  daughter  or  to  have  a  widow  remarried  is  to 
ask  them  to  do  something  against  their  religion — 
or,  if  they  do  not  know  the  relevant  texts,  against 
the  popular  ideal  of  woman's  positions  and  purpose, 
which  their  religion  has  fostered. 

We  must  leave  to  more  extended  treatises^  any  de- 
tailed evaluation  of  India's  faiths  in  comparison 
with  Christianity.  Here  only  a  few  observations 
can  be  made.  In  spite  of  the  saying  common  in  In- 
dia, that  all  religions  are  the  same,  the  fact  is  that 
religions  differ  fundamentally.   Buddhism  and  Jain- 


*J.  N.  Farquhar's  Crown  of  Hinduism  and  J.  B.   Pratt's 
India  and  its  Faiths  are  especially  recommended. 


Handicaps  to  Progress  69 

ism  deny  the  existence  of  God,  while  Hinduism,  Is- 
lam, and  Christianity  affirm  God's  existence  as  the 
center  of  their  systems.  Hinduism,  Jainism,  and 
Buddhism  teach  transmigration  of  souls  and  Karma, 
while  Islam  and  Christianity  repudiate  these  doc- 
trines. Christianity  considers  sin  an  act  of  the  will. 
Philosophic  Hinduism  considers  sin  as  ignorance  of 
the  Divine  immanence,  while  popular  Hinduism  re- 
gards sin  as  an  infraction  of  rites  and  ceremonies. 
Christianity  considers  the  individual  as  a  respons- 
ible person  capable  of  choosing  the  good  or  the  evil, 
capable  of  working  with  God  or  against  Him.  In- 
dia's highest  thought — ^the  Vedanta — ^pictures  the 
soul  as  so  dependent  on  God  or  so  lost  in  Him  that 
there  is  practically  no  place  left  for  individuality 
and  genuine  responsibility  and  freedom.  India's  re- 
ligions have  tended  to  focus  thought  on  self  and  on 
the  acquisition  of  merit;  while  Christianity  centers 
the  thought  on  Christ  and  leads  men  to  forget  them- 
selves in  devoted  service  to  their  fellow-men.  Hindu- 
ism and  Christianity  come  to  grips  on  the  nature  and 
character  of  God.  He  is  likened  in  Hinduism  to  a 
lamp  set  in  a  house  which  neither  commands  any- 
thing nor  forbids  and  knows  not  what  each  one  is 
busy  with.  This  is  worlds  apart  from  the  Christian 
view  of  God.  If  religion  is  taken  as  man's  search  for 
God,  then  India  stands  out  as  preeminently  reli- 
gious; but,  if  religion  be  also  taken  as  God's  out- 
reach toward  men,  then  India  has  not  yet  glimpsed 
the  most  precious  aspect  of  religion. 

Hinduism  cannot  meet  India's  pressing  modern; 
needs.  In  so  far  as  her  people  yield  to  India's  age-' 
long  thought  that  this  world  is  unreal,  and  that  wel 


7©  Building  with  India 

are  to  be  released  from  it  through  meditation  and 
mystical  ecstasy,  they  are  unfitted  to  grapple  seri- 
ously with  the  problems  of  economic,  social,  and  po- 
litical development.  Overemphasis  on  other-world- 
liness  leaves  one  indifferent  to  conditions  of  life  in 
this  world.  Hinduism  of  necessity  assigns  the  work 
of  town  and  factory  to  what  it  considers  an  un- 
spiritual  type,  since  it  plainly  counts  that  aspiration 
to  be  highest  which  plans  escape  from  life's  contacts 
and  life's  desires.  Hinduism  may  dictate  the  de- 
tailed ordering  of  one's  life,  but  since  it  neither  sets 
before  its  followers  a  great  social  goal,  nor  inspires 
them  with  hope  and  power  for  its  attainment,  Hin- 
duism cannot  touch  India's  present  problems. 

It  is,  however,  when  one  sees  the  religion  of  the 
great  mass  of  common  people  that  the  pathos  of 
Hinduism  sinks  in  upon  one.  Fear  permeates  their 
religion.  A  mother  deceives  the  gods  by  calling 
her  child  "rubbish  heap"  or  "crazyman,"  or  she  dis- 
guises her  baby  by  blacking  its  eyes.  Women  weave 
ugly  blotches  into  silk  scarfs  to  avoid  the  evil  eye. 
Propitiation  of  the  gods  lies  back  of  an  immense 
amount  of  popular  religion.  This  fear,  which  is 
often  the  child  of  ignorance,  will  inevitably  hinder  a 
nation's  progress. 

Moreover,  one  is  filled  with  indignation  at  those 
who  designed  and  who  permit  to  continue  through 
the  centuries  those  obscene  panels  on  some  of  Hin- 
duism's greatest  temples  and  idol  cars.  As  one  sees 
groups  of  small  boys  smirking  before  these  regret- 
table carvings,  the  severe  words  of  Jesus  about 
offending  little  ones  surge  to  one's  thought. 

Another  blot  on  popular  Hinduism,  especially  in 


Handicaps  to  Progress  71 

the  south,  is  its  toleration  of  the  system  of  temple 
girls.  Villages  can  be  found  made  up  wholly  of 
those  who  have  been  dedicated  to  the  gods,  and  for 
whom  there  exist  well  recognized  customs  and  regu- 
lations. Very  commonly  Western  women  travel- 
ing in  India  have  to  shrink  from  the  gaze  of  the 
priests  who  frequent  the  more  popular  temples. 
These  are  ugly  facts — ^facts  which  show  that  the 
most  ardent  devotee  of  neo-Hinduism  has  but  to  go 
to  India  to  see  how  inadequate  has  been  the  dynamic 
behind  fine  ideas.  In  facing  them  we  must  remem- 
ber that  Hinduism  is  a  protean  religion.  It  is  ex- 
ceedingly difficult  to  define  it.  Even  thoughtful  Hin- 
dus have  had  to  fall  back  on  the  statement,  "A  Hindu 
is  one  who  calls  himself  a  Hindu."  Good  and  bad 
come  under  the  same  name,  and,  as  we  have  already 
seen,  there  is  a  brighter,  higher  side  to  Hinduism. 
But  Hinduism  at  its  highest  tends  to  be  complacent 
over  child-widows,  nautch  girls,  and  outcastes.  We 
believe  in  meditation;  but  flatly  repudiate  a  kind 
that  is  never  disturbed  by  evils  which  destroy  a 
people.  Facts  such  as  these  sadly  reveal  Hinduism's 
lack  of  ethical  dynamic.  Against  the  same  evils  in 
the  West,  Christianity  is  intolerant  and  militant. 
The  greatest  tragedy  of  India  has  been  Hinduism's 
failure  to  bring  peace  and  joy  and  power  to  the  mil- 
lions who  have  confidently  trusted  and  followed  it. 

There  is  a  world  conscience  developing  at  whose 
bar  India's  social  customs  are  increasingly  judged. 
Furthermore,  modern  education  will  undermine  re- 
ligious beliefs  such  as  we  have  been  considering  in 
this  section.  But  something  greater  is  needed.  The 
Indian  people  need  a  new  God — the  God  Jesus  re- 


72  Building  with  India 

vealed  to  men.  They  need  the  Way,  and  the  recon- 
ciliation wrought  through  Him.  They  need  con- 
structive principles  as  a  basis  for  the  newer,  freer 
life.  They  need  a  religion  whose  clear  teaching,  far 
from  being  diametrically  opposed  to  reform  as  is 
Hinduism,  will  lead  them  ever  forward.  Friends  in 
the  West  may  as  well  realize  that  mere  humanita- 
rian service  and  uplift  do  not  strike  at  the  root  of  the 
problem.  A  person  with  the  Hindu's  readiness  to 
subordinate  the  temporal  for  the  eternal  is  not  going 
to  break  what  he  conceives  to  be  a  Divine  command 
out  of  consideration  of  mere  expediency  or  as  a  re- 
sult of  calculation  of  gain  or  loss.  But  if  their  loy- 
alty can  be  won  to  Jesus'  way  of  living  and  think- 
ing, reforms  will  naturally  follow.  The  passionate 
impulse  of  human  sympathy  with  the  wronged  and 
afflicted  springs  up  with  certainty  from  a  living 
touch  with  Him. 

Just  here  lies  the  essential  difference  between  In- 
dia's religions  and  our  own.  For  Hinduism  has  no 
parallel  to  the  historical  reality  of  Jesus  of  Naza- 
reth. One  who  had  himself  once  been  a  Hindu  and 
was  lecturing  on  the  good  in  Hinduism  nevertheless 
spoke  of  it  in  comparison  with  Christ  as  "a  sixteen 
candle  power  incandescent  light  as  against  the  sun." 
It  is  Jesus  Christ,  God's  greatest  gift  to  our  world, 
who  must  come  to  India  in  all  His  winsomeness  and 
saving  power.  Not  till  then  will  the  root  of  India's 
handicaps  be  removed. 


Prayer 

WE  praise  Thee,  O  Father,  for  the  confidence 
Thou  hast  given  us  through  Jesus  Christ 
that  it  is  Thy  will  that  not  even  the  least 
in  India  should  perish;  that  none  should  be  strug- 
gling on  with  bare  existence  or  possessed  by  fear  or 
left  to  their  own  resources  orphaned  from  their  Father. 
We  rejoice  that  there  is  no  inherent  racial  or  physi- 
cal reason  why  India  must  permanently  remain  handi- 
capped in  life. 

C^We  pray  for  the  real  wealth  of  India — not  for 
gems  and  silks  and  spices — but  for  her  men  and 
women  and  little  children.  May  they  have  strong 
bodies,  having  learned  to  be  obedient  to  Thy  laws; 
clear  minds  free  from  all  superstition  and  degrading 
fear;  adequate  means  for  every  necessity,  drawing 
intelligently  upon  Thy  rich  provision  in  soil  and 
river,  mountain  and  sea.  Above  all,  increase  the 
number  of  glad,  free,  creative  Christian  spirits  in 
that  land,  who  shall  take  up  the  great  and  compel- 
ling task  for  India  in  an  ever  deepening  friendship 
with  Christ  and  the  conscious  indwelling  of  His 
Spirit. 

€LBe,  we  pray  Thee,  with  all  of  whatever  faith  who 
are  working  for  the  removal  of  abuses  and  the  puri- 
fication of  public  and  private  life.  Enlighten  es- 
pecially the  Indian  Church  to  see  that  in  Christ  it 
has  a  gospel  for  the  whole  of  man's  nature.  Em- 
power this  Church  as  it  seeks  to  build  up  high 
standards  of  life,  and  stir  its  members  with  the 
vision  of  a  normal,  wholesome,  and  Christian  life 
for  all  of  India.     Amen. 


73 


CHAPTER   THREE 

Striving  and  Aspiration 

A  NUMBER  of  questions  now  present  themselves. 
What  attitude  does  India  take  toward  her  own  re- 
generation ?  If  the  forces  of  richer  life  are  brought 
to  bear  upon  her,  does  the  initiative  in  reform  pass 
to  her?  In  other  words,  is  India  a  hopeless  and  in- 
ert drag  on  progress ;  or  may  we  take  hope  and  cour- 
age from  the  kind  of  response  given  to  friendly  ser- 
vice from  without?  If  these  questions  can  be  satis- 
factorily answered,  it  ought  to  increase  our  estimate 
of  India.  In  this  chapter  we  will  limit  ourselves  to 
these  forms  of  response  which  have  not  yet  ex- 
pressed themselves  in  formal  Christian  ways.  Many 
of  them  illustrate  the  wide  and  more  or  less  un- 
conscious penetration  of  Christian  ideas  and  the 
permeation  of  Christian  principles  in  the  customs 
and  institutions  of  the  land.  We  will  take  up  later 
the  mass  movements  to  Christianity  and  the  Indian 
Church  which  are  most  significant  evidences  of  In- 
dia's awakening  and  response  under  external  in- 
fluence.^ 

I 

First  we  will  look  at  India's  aspirations  within  the 
realm  of  social  reform.  We  generally  think  of  mod- 
ern missions  in  India  as  starting  in  1792  when 
William  Carey  began  his  stimulating  work,  and  1800 
is  roughly  taken  as  the  time  when  the  West  began 

'Chapters  V  and  VI. 

74 


Striving  and  Aspiration  75 

its  effective  interpenetration  of  India.  Soon  the  in- 
fluence of  the  West  and  especially  of  Christianity 
produced  the  father  of  modern  reform  in  India — 
Ram  Mohan  Roy.  This  reformer  sprang  from  very 
high-caste  and  orthodox  Brahman  parentage.  As 
a  lad  of  twelve  in  Bengal  he  was  married  by  his  par- 
ents, but  his  girl-wife  soon  died.  Later  he  was  mar- 
ried to  two  girls. 

His  awakening  began  with  a  revolt  against  idola- 
try. Even  for  the  sake  of  his  mother  he  would  not 
do  homage  to  the  idols,  and  as  a  result,  while  still 
young,  he  was  asked  not  to  darken  his  father's  door 
again.  He  became  conscious  of  the  abuses  and  cor- 
rupt practices  that  had  gathered  about  Hinduism 
and,  in  spite  of  the  opposition  of  the  rigidly  con- 
servative Hindu  orthodoxy,  held  that  India's  reju- 
venation would  come  through  Western  culture  and 
modernized  education.  Hence  he  was  a  great  help  to 
Alexander  Duff,  the  great  Scotch  missionary  edu- 
cator, in  starting  his  school  in  Calcutta. 

Besides  fellowship  with  Duff,  Ram  Mohan  Roy  be- 
came acquainted  in  middle  life  with  William  Carey 
and  the  Serampore  group.  The  friendship  deep- 
ened, and  in  this  way  he  began  a  serious  study  of 
Christianity.  Though  he  never  became  a  Christian, 
he  was  a  devout  seeker  after  truth.  After  searching 
the  literature  of  Sanskrit,  Arabic,  Greek,  and  He- 
brew, he  wrote:  "The  consequence  of  my  long  and 
uninterrupted  researches  into  religious  truth  has 
been  that  I  have  found  the  doctrines  of  Christ  more 
conducive  to  moral  principles  and  better  adapted  | 
for  the  use  of  rational  beings  than  any  other  which 
have  come  to  my  knowledge." 


76  Building  with  India 

It  will  be  remembered  that  William  Carey  after 
witnessing  a  case  of  sati — ^the  burning  of  a  widow 
on  the  funeral  pyre  of  her  husband — went  home 
with  such  a  ghastly  paleness  on  his  face  that  his 
servant  at  once  inquired,  "Art  thou  bitten  by  a  ser- 
pent, Sahib?"  He  bore  through  life  an  indelible  pic- 
ture of  that  long,  yearning  look  which  the  widow 
cast  about  before  lying  down  beside  the  dead  body 
of  her  husband,  to  be  covered  with  dry  leaves  and 
rushes  upon  which  melted  butter  had  been  poured. 
The  shouts  of  the  people  drowned  out  any  cry  from 
the  blazing  pile,  but  he  could  not  help  seeing  how  the 
bamboos  held  across  the  pyre  by  the  men  suddenly 
moved  as  though  some  strong  power  had  thrust  at 
them  from  beneath.  And  then  all  was  quiet.  It  is" 
not  strange  that  Carey  should  have  made  unwearied 
efforts  to  persuade  Government  to  abolish  the  ter- 
rible custom,  or  that  Ram  Mohan  Roy  should  have 
been  the  outstanding  Indian  leader  in  the  agitation 
which  at  last  led  Government  in  1829  to  make  it  il- 
legal. Against  other  wrongs  of  womanhood  as  he 
saw  them,  Ram  Mohan  Roy  boldly  spoke  out. 

His  influence  was  felt  even  more  in  the  realm  of 
religion,  his  outstanding  work  here  being  the  found- 
ing of  the  Brahmo  Samaj.  This  was  the  beginning 
of  religious  liberalism,  for  in  the  trust  deed  of  its 
first  building,  it  was  stipulated  that  therein  there 
should  be  no  idolatry  or  animal  sacrifice,  but  other- 
wise it  should  be  open  to  all. 

The  Brahmo  Samaj  has  not  been  marked  by  wide- 
spread growth,  inasmuch  as  in  1911  it  had  only  183 
branches  and  a  little  over  5,000  members.  But  it 
has  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  influential  of  the 


IN    THE    TRAIL    OF    INDIA'S    INDUSTRIALIZATION 

(1)  Workers'  huts  which  have  sprung  up  around  a  factory 
where  there  is  no  provision  for  proper  housing. 

(2)  A  section  of  a  model  settlement  for  factory  laborers  in 
Cawnpore.  An  American  social  service  worker  has  been  as- 
signed to  this  settlement  by  one  of  the  missions. 


Striving  and  Aspiration  77 

many  modern  religious  movements  which  have  been 
stimulated  in  India  in  the  past  century.  Its  wor- 
ship throughout  has  been  theistic,  and  it  has  taken 
a  firm  stand  against  idolatry.  Breaking  of  caste  is 
made  a  condition  of  membership  in  most  of  its 
branches.  It  was  the  first  Indian  body  to  take  up 
the  fight  against  child  marriage.  As  the  climax 
of  its  policy  of  reform,  a  special  marriage  act  was 
secured  for  Brahmans,  abolishing  early  marriage  by 
fixing  the  legal  minimum  age  for  girls  at  fourteen, 
and  sanctioning  widow  and  intercaste  marriages. 

Just  as  the  Brahmo  Samaj  is  immensely  indebted 
to  Christianity,  so  the  Christian  Church  in  India  has 
been  not  a  little  helped  by  the  Brahmo  Samaj.  It 
has  done  much  to  bring  people  to  an  unprejudiced 
study  of  Christ  and  to  consider  seriously  the  truth 
of  a  belief  in  a  single  God.  It  would  be  to  many  a 
source  of  surprising  uplift  to  attend  one  of  the  ser- 
vices of  dignified  and  reverent  worship  at  the 
Brahmo  Samaj.  The  writer  well  remembers  the  un- 
hurried prayer  consisting  mainly  of  praise  and 
adoration.  Also  must  he  bear  witness  to  valued 
friendships  with  many  of  its  members.  One  admires  . 
their  high  regard  for  education  and  the  position  j 
given  to  their  women. 

The  Prarthana  Samaj  (Prayer  Society)  was 
started  in  Bombay  in  1867  in  close  relationship  to 
the  Brahmo  Samaj  by  one  who  had  been  deeply  in- 
fluenced by  John  Wilson,  a  missionary  of  the  Church 
of  Scotland.  This  society  has  been  less  radical  than 
the  Brahmo  Samaj,  clinging  closer  to  Hinduism. 
And  yet,  in  general,  its  members  are  theists,  oppos- 
ing idolatry  and  urging  the  abandonment  of  caste. 


78  Building  with  India 

the  introduction  of  widow  remarriage,  encourage- 
ment of  education  for  girls,  and  the  abolition  of 
child  marriage.  One  would  be  proud  to  have  the 
privilege  of  introducing  a  visitor  from  the  West  to 
any  of  its  leaders,  six  or  seven  of  whose  well-known 
names  come  readily  to  mind. 

II 

Very  different  in  its  temper  and  objective  is  the 
Arya  Samaj,  largest  and  most  powerfully  organized 
of  modern  reform  movements  in  India.  It  was 
founded  by  Swami  Dayanand,  a  man  of  unusual 
gifts  and  great  learning,  and  now  has  25,000  mem- 
bers. When  a  boy  of  fourteen,  Dayanand  became 
disgusted  with  idolatry.  After  a  three  days'  fast, 
he  had  been  taken  by  his  father  to  the  temple  of 
Siva.  The  powerful  god  was  supposed  to  give  great 
blessings  to  those  who  out  of  devotion  abstained 
from  food  and  sleep  at  that  time.  However,  dur- 
ing the  night's  long  vigil,  the  temple  servants  and 
even  some  of  the  lay  devotees  were  discovered  to 
be  asleep,  while  Dayanand,  expecting  great  things 
of  the  god  and  in  obedience  to  his  father's  command, 
kept  awake.  Near  morning  he  saw  a  mouse  crawl 
up  to  the  offerings  and  nibble  at  them,  even  running 
across  the  god's  body.  This  proved  to  be  a  turning 
point  in  the  boy's  life.  It  became  increasingly  im- 
possible for  him  to  reconcile  the  idea  of  the  living, 
omnipotent  God  with  an  image  which  was  allowed  to 
be  polluted  without  the  slightest  protest. 

When  he  was  twenty-one,  Dayanand  left  his  home 
and  lived  under  an  assumed  name  in  order  to  escape 
the  marriage  planned  by  his  parents.    Two  years 


Striving  and  Aspiration  79 

later  he  became  a  Hindu  monk  (Sanyasi),  thus  re- 
nouncing home,  marriage,  property,  caste,  and  a 
settled  life.  From  this  time  on  he  gave  himself  to 
the  study  of  Hindu  ways  of  salvation,  placing  him- 
self under  the  greatest  teachers,  and  at  last  be- 
coming an  influential  master  himself. 

He  founded  the  Arya  Samaj  in  1875,  with  the 
watchword  "Back  to  the  Vedas,"  and  with  the  pur- 
pose of  defending  and  reviving  the  ancient  faith  of 
India,  after  having  purged  it  from  acknowledged 
superstition.  A  parallel  has  been  drawn^  between 
Martin  Luther  and  Swami  Dayanand.  The  analogy 
seems  not  unfitting  as  one  reads  of  the  epoch-mak- 
ing address  fearlessly  given  to  a  learned  audience  in 
Benares  four  years  before  his  death.  He  tried  to 
prove  from  the  Vedas  that  polytheism  was  a  mon- 
strous fraud  devised  by  blind  priests ;  that  caste  was 
designed  to  be  only  a  scientific  division  of  labor 
on  the  basis  of  inherited  and  developed  skill;  that 
Hindu  women  were  free  and  the  equals  of  men,  en- 
titled to  respect  and  honor  and  the  fullest  use  of 
their  opportunities ;  that  only  those  could  be  called 
priests  who  were  pure,  learned,  and  industrious; 
and  that  social  elevation  to  the  highest  caste  was 
open  to  the  meanest  pariahs.^ 

In  many  ways  the  movement  was  reactionary  and 
crude.  The  founder  knew  very  little  of  Christianity 
or  of  Western  tradition.  India's  culture  and  India's 
religion  wholly  absorbed  him.  Yet,  notwithstanding 
the  advocacy  of  some  very  objectionable  marriage 


*See  "Arya  Samaj"  by  H.  D.  Griswold  in  Hasting's  Dic- 
tionary  of  Religion. 
*Cf.  Bannerjea.  D.  N..  India's  Nation  Builders,  p.  80. 


8o  Building  with  India 

customs,  he  led  the  Samaj  in  prohibiting  child  mar- 
riage and  in  permitting  virgin  widows  to  remarry, 
enduring  in  his  various  efforts  years  of  scorn  and 
persecution  from  his  orthodox  countrymen.  In- 
stead of  the  usual  procedure  by  which  the  parties  to 
a  marriage  do  not  see  each  other's  face  until  the  ac- 
tual ceremony,  Dayanand  suggested  at  least  an  ex- 
change of  photographs. 

The  Samaj 's  ideal  for  the  minimum  age  of  mar- 
riage has  been  definitely  set  at  twenty-five  years  for 
boys  and  sixteen  for  girls.  But  this  advanced  stand- 
ard is  rarely  attained.  The  Aryas  carry  on  exten- 
sive educational  work  including  primary  and  high 
schools  and  the  largest  college  in  northern  India. 
They  provide  considerable  opportunity  for  the  edu- 
cation of  girls,  and  the  seclusion  of  women  is  dis- 
couraged. A  widows'  home  has  been  founded,  ex- 
tensive famine  relief  work  has  been  organized,  and 
orphanages  have  been  established.  The  Aryas  exert 
a  valuable  influence  in  behalf  of  a  belief  in  one 
God  who  is  spiritual  and  personal,  strenuously  ridi- 
cule the  conception  of  polytheism  and  idolatry,  and 
oppose  priestcraft,  pilgrimages,  and  self-torture  in 
the  name  of  religion.  Food  offerings  for  the  souls 
of  departed  relatives  are  definitely  discouraged  as 
animistic  survivals.  Unlike  the  individualism  of 
ordinary  Hindu  worship,  they  encourage  the  social 
worship  of  God.  Theoretically  they  hold  caste  as  a 
matter  of  man's  nature  and  not  of  his  birth.  Actually, 
however,  few  members  have  broken  with  it,  and 
in  practice  their  efforts  do  not  go  beyond  interdin- 
ing  and  intermarriage  between  near  sub-castes.  The 
Arya  Samaj  ists  are  bitter  and  persistent  enemies 


Striving  and  Aspiration  8i 

of  Christianity.    The  significant  thing  just  here  is 
that  this  virile  society  is  advocating  many  a  good  ' 
and  constructive  policy  which  used  to  be  urged  by  j 
missions  only.    It  represents  a  response  which  puri-/ 
fies  the  old,  rather  than  accepts  the  new. 

Ill 

A  National  Social  Conference  has  been  meeting 
annually  at  Christmas  time  since  1888,  to  which  rep- 
resentatives go  from  every  part  of  India.  It  has 
exerted  a  very  powerful  influence  in  the  formation 
of  public  opinion  through  the  reported  discussions 
of  its  sessions  and  the  formal  resolutions  passed. 
An  idea  of  the  stand  that  the  members  take  and 
the  terms  in  which  they  voice  their  position  may  be 
gained  from  the  resolutions  passed  at  their  thirty- 
third  Conference  (1920).  If  any  Western  critic 
should  be  inclined  to  charge  them  with  much  talk 
and  few  deeds,  let  him  remember  how  much  talk 
precedes  action  with  reference  to  our  problems  of 
labor  and  capital. 

The  Conference  is  of  opinion  that  the  condition  of  un- 
touchability  imposed  upon  the  depressed  classes  in  India 
ought  to  be  forthwith  abolished  and  that  free  and  unrestricted 
access  should  be  given  these  classes  to  public  institutions 
such  as  schools,  dispensaries,  courts  of  justice  conducted  for 
the  public  benefit  and  at  public  expense,  and  also  to  public 
places  such  as  wells,  springs,  reservoirs,  municipal  stand- 
pipes,  burning  and  bathing-ghats,  places  of  amusements  and 
worship,  and,  further,  gives  its  wholehearted  support  to 
all  peaceful  and  just  efforts  on  the  part  of  the  depressed 
classes,  to  remove  their  grievances. 

The  Conference,  while  expressing  its  satisfaction  at  the 
progress  of  education  of  women  in  this  country,  strongly 
urges  upon  the  attention  of  the  public  the  great  and  urgent 
need  for  greater  effort  in  this  direction. 

The  Conference  is  of  the  opinion  that  the  age  of  consent 
in  the  case  of  girls  should  be  not  less  than  sixteen  years. 

In  the  opinion  of  the  Conference,  the  institution  of  caste 


82  Building  with  India 

is  detrimental  to  social  and  political  solidarity  and  national 
progress  and  therefore  urges  all  to  make  every  endeavor 
towards  its  abolition. 

The  Conference  welcomes  the  growing  support  to  the 
widow  remarriage  movement  in  the  country  and  urges  upon 
the  public  the  necessity  of  starting  widow  remarriage  asso- 
ciations or  homes  to  support  the  cause. 

That  in  the  opinion  of  this  Conference  the  present  meth- 
ods of  charity  should  be  improved  and  the  money  at  present 
wasted  in  feeding  and  supporting  the  idle  and  undeserving 
beggars  should  be  utilized  to  start  in  every  district  charita- 
ble institutions  like  orphanages,  homes  for  homeless,  and  in- 
firmaries, to  provide  for  the  needs  of  the  really  helpless  and 
needy  section  of  the  population. 

Besides  such  items  of  social  reform  hitherto  advo- 
cated, the  Conference  intends  henceforth  to  deal 
with  industrial,  economic,  and  sanitary  needs  as 
well.  At  the  close  of  the  Conference  the  members 
usually  dine  together,  irrespective  of  caste,  race,  or 
religion.  At  least  three  provinces  have  their  own 
social  reform  associations,  and  local  conferences 
representing  smaller  areas  are  not  infrequent.  Mis- 
sion schools  and  colleges  send  forth  many  graduates 
who,  though  still  non-Christian,  nevertheless  have 
been  stimulated  to  work  for  bettering  India's  cus- 
toms through  these  associations. 

Another  powerful  and  uplifting  agency  is  the 
Indian  Social  Reformer,  For  over  thirty  years  this 
eighteen  page  weekly  has  gone  forth  to  coordinate, 
encourage,  and  inspire  social  workers  all  over  India. 
Often  these  brave  spirits  carry  on  their  fight  in 
small  towns,  fiercely  resisted  and  isolated  from  kin- 
dred spirits.  In  the  Reformer  they  have  found  an 
organ  that  has  maintained  a  remarkably  courageous, 
independent,  and  high  standard  for  religion,  mor- 
ality, and  progress  along  social  and  political  lines. 
In  general,  the  position  taken  by  its  able  editor 


Striving  and  Aspiration  83 

would  gladden  the  heart  of  any  Christian.^  At  the 
top  of  each  issue  is  the  following  quotation  from 
William  Lloyd  Garrison:  "I  will  be  as  harsh  as 
truth,  and  as  uncompromising  as  justice.  I  am  in 
earnest — I  will  not  equivocate — I  will  not  excuse — I 
will  not  retreat  a  single  inch — and  I  will  be  heard." 
This  is  only  one  illustration  of  the  way  in  which 
West  and  East  should  ever  be  cross-fertilizing  each 
other,  sharing  the  inspiration  of  noble  example  and 
character. 

The  immediate  occasion  for  starting  the  Reformer 
arose  in  1890  when  Hindu  society  throughout  India 
was  being  rent  asunder  by  discussions  of  the  Age  of 
Consent  Act  prohibiting  a  husband  from  being  with 
his  wife  before  she  reaches  the  age  of  twelve,  and 
finally  passed  by  the  government  in  1891.  One  of 
its  first  tasks  was  to  put  social  reform  on  a  rational 
basis.  Since  for  the  Hindu  all  customs  are  religious 
and  receive  sanction  from  their  sacred  books,  discus- 
sion had  naturally  centered  too  much  about  the  in- 
terpretation of  Sanskrit  texts.  For  example,  the 
Indian  supporters  of  abolishing  sati  had  attempted 
to  prove  that  this  custom,  if  not  contrary  to  the 
Shastras,  was  at  least  not  prescribed  by  their 
sacred  books.  Also  the  advocates  of  the  remarriage 
of  Hindu  widows  felt  that  they  must  show  on  Shas- 
tric  grounds  that  such  remarriage  was  permissible. 
Such  arguments  inevitably  led  to  endless  debates  as 


^jt  *It  would  be  very  helpful  if  individuals  or  societies  would 
'subscribe  for  the  Indian  Social  Reformer  while  studying  this 
book.  The  cost  for  three  months  would  be  five  shillings. 
Address,  the  Indian  Social  Reformer,  Bombay,  India.  In  few 
ways  would  an  American  get  a  deeper  insight  into  all  sides 
of  modern  India  with  so  little  expenditure  of  time  and  money. 


84  Building  with  India 

[to  the  meaning  of  ancient  texts,  instead  of  making 
/  reform  a  matter  of  reason  based  on  justice  and  hu- 
I  manity. 

The  Reformer  has  also  taken  a  clear-cut  position 
for  total  abstinence,  the  abolition  of  the  nautch  (em- 
ployment of  dancing  girls),  the  advocacy  of  a  pure 
private  life  for  public  men,  and  the  removal  of  the 
l^  prohibitory   restrictions   by    caste   on   all   foreign 
I '  travel. 

IV 

A  remarkable  organization  in  India  embodying 
the  new  spirit  of  service  is  the  Servants  of  India  So- 
ciety, begun  in  1905.  Its  founder,  Mr.  G.  K.  Gokhale, 
had  become  at  his  death  in  1915  India's  foremost 
statesman,  in  vi^hom  the  people  were  placing  im- 
plicit confidence.  In  part  this  was  due  to  Mr. 
Gokhale's  ability  as  an  Indian  publicist,  in  part  to 
the  abounding  enthusiasm  with  which  he  gave  his 
talents,  his  time,  his  very  all  in  self-dedication  to 
India.  With  a  life  thus  characterized  by  sacrifice, 
study,  and  service,  it  is  not  surprising  that  he  could 
inspire  others  to  join  his  brotherhood. 

The  objects  of  the  Society  have  been  to  train 
young  men  for  the  service  of  India,  every  member 
being  pledged  to  devote  all  his  time  to  public  work 
and  taking  the  following  vows  at  the  time  of  ad- 
mission: That  the  country  will  always  be  the  first 
in  his  thoughts  and  that  he  will  give  to  her  service 
the  best  that  is  in  him ;  that  in  serving  the  countr^^ 
he  will  seek  no  personal  advantage ;  that  he  will  re- 
gard all  Indians  as  brothers  and  will  work  for  the 
advancement  of  all,  without  distinction  of  caste  or 


Striving  and  Aspiration  85 

creed;  that  he  will  be  content  with  such  provision 
for  himself  and  his  family,  if  he  has  any,  as  the  So- 
ciety may  be  able  to  make;  that  he  will  devote  no 
part  of  his  energies  to  earning  money  for  himself; 
and  that  he  will  lead  a  pure  personal  life. 

A  five  years'  apprenticeship  for  study  and  practi- 
cal work  under  guidance  is  required  of  each  member. 
Those  under  training  receive  only  Rs.  720  a  year. 
Regular  members  receive  Rs.  900  per  year  to  begin 
with  and  never  more  than  Rs.  1,200.  In  1919  there 
were  thirteen  regular  members  and  five  men  under 
training.  Practically  every  member  is  a  university 
graduate,  and  after  his  completion  of  five  years  of 
extra  study  and  preparation,  each  has  become  a  spe- 
cialist. Though  the  Society  is  but  sixteen  years  old, 
its  small  but  well-qualified  membership  has  won  for 
itself  a  remarkably  high  prestige. 

Its  work  consists  in  enlightening  public  opinion 
through  speeches,  pamphlets,  and  newspapers, 
owned  or  controlled  by  the  Society;  in  stimulating 
young  men  to  make  a  study  of  public  questions ;  and 
in  a  great  variety  of  practical  service — political,  so- 
cial, and  educational.  The  very  existence  of  such 
a  society  promises  hope  for  the  future  of  India,  and 
in  its  thoroughness  and  spirit  of  sacrifice  should  be 
a  stimulus  to  the  Indian  Church. 

The  organizations  for  reform  that  have  been  men- 
tioned are  only  a  fraction  of  the  varied  agencies  for 
education,  philanthropy,  and  reform  that  modern 
India  is  producing.^    Even  to  list  their  names  would 

*The  unique  school  work  of  Rabindranath  Tagore,  the  ad- ' 
vanced  measures  introduced  by  the  Gaekwar  of  Baroda,  and' 
various  other  indigenous  efforts  are  described  in  Schools  with 
a  Message  in  India,  Chapters  X-XII. 


86  Building  with  India 

take  several  pages.  The  land  teems  with  religious 
and  social  conferences  and  organizations.  A  study 
of  them  shows  us  what  India  feels  to  be  her  needs 
and  reveals  at  once  the  most  evident  points  of  con- 
tact for  any  sympathetic  help.  There  have  sprung 
up  a  hundred  orphanages — Hindu  and  Muhamma- 
dan,  local  temperance  societies  in  great  number, 
famine-relief  and  plague-relief  organizations,  and 
many  organizations  for  the  spread  of  education. 
Bombay's  Infant  Welfare  Association  has  passed  its 
first  anniversary,  successful  baby  shows  have  been 
held  in  Poona,  Delhi,  and  Lahore,  several  societies 
for  the  protection  of  children  have  been  organized, 
and  various  social  service  leagues  are  in  operation. 

V 

Response  on  the  part  of  India's  women  to  modern- 
izing influences  has  been  veritably  surprising  within 
the  past  fifteen  years.  Thus  far  the  movement  has 
touched  a  mere  fraction  of  her  155,000,000  women, 
but  there  are  literally  thousands  of  them  through- 
out India  who  have  begun  to  long  for  a  larger 
life  than  they  have  hitherto  experienced,  and 
their  activities  are  full  of  promise.  The  intense  na- 
tional feeling  has  made  men  see  that  the  prosperity 
of  their  country  demands  that  their  womenfolk  be 
educated,  and  that  widows  at  least  should  be  trained 
as  teachers,  nurses,  or  doctors,  and  thus  bear  their 
share  in  the  uplift  of  the  land. 

During  the  last  decade  a  wave  of  the  organiza- 
tion of  women  has  passed  over  the  country.  Bom- 
bay, for  example,  now  has  seven  different  women's 
societies  or  clubs,  and  Bangalore  has  four.    A  wom- 


Striving  and  Aspiration  87 

en's  deputation  to  the  Secretary  of  State  for  India 
and  to  the  Viceroy  in  1917  pleaded  with  Government 
to  take  constructive  steps  to  provide  training  for 
destitute  and  enforced  widows ;  to  make  special  pro- 
vision by  legislation  for  insuring  to  Hindu  wives 
and  daughters  their  rightful  property  inheritance 
from  husband  or  father;  to  safeguard  the  interests 
of  Indian  wives  by  making  it  criminal  and  unlawful 
for  an  Indian  married  man  to  marry  an  English 
woman;  to  allow  Indian  women  to  enter  any  pro- 
fession they  may  choose ;  and  to  allow  Indian  women 
to  have  the  right  to  vote  in  municipal  and  other  elec- 
tions. In  northern  India  there  is  an  All-India  Mus- 
lim Women's  Association  which,  at  a  recent  con- 
ference passed  a  resolution  denouncing  the  evils  of 
polygamous  marriages  and  pledged  themselves  not 
to  give  their  daughters  as  plural  wives.  Since  1904 
a  Women's  Conference  has  been  held  annually  in 
connection  with  the  National  Social  Congress  and 
has  drawn  to  itself  hundreds  of  women  from  all  over 
the  country  to  discuss  subjects  relating  to  woman's 
life.  Their  findings  year  by  year  take  a  strong  po- 
sition with  reference  to  various  situations  that  need 
attention. 

Bombay  and  Calcutta  have  associations  o£  Indian 
women  graduates,  and  a  notice  signed  by  ten  Indian 
women  recently  appeared  outlining  a  plan  for  form- 
ing a  national  unit  for  participation  in  the  Interna- 
tional Federation  of  University  Women.  For  three 
years  the  Indian  Woman's  Suffrage  Association  has 
been  working  for  the  spread  of  its  ideas  and  as- 
pirations, and  forty-three  branches  have  been  or- 
ganized in  all  parts  of  India.     Representatives  of 


88  Building  with  India 

this  Association  presented  an  appeal  to  the  Govern- 
ment asking  it  to  extend  the  franchise  to  Indian 
women.  Delegates  were  sent  in  1920  to  the  Inter- 
national Women's  Suffrage  Alliance  in  Geneva. 
There  is  something  almost  pathetic  about  such  a 
movement,  for  only  one  woman  out  of  a  hundred  can 
read  and  write.  But  in  it  we  can  see  India's  eager 
part  in  the  great,  surging  desire  for  a  larger  life 
that  has  come  to  the  womanhood  of  the  world.  The 
Councils  of  two  provinces  (Bombay  and  Madras) 
have  recently  decided  to  extend  the  franchise  to 
women. 

Women  are  beginning  to  make  public  demonstra- 
tions in  behalf  of  their  objects.  Several  hundred 
women  went  through  the  streets  of  Madras  carrying 
the  Home  Rule  banner.  In  many  places  they  are 
the  backbone  of  this  movement.  In  1920  a  good  deal 
of  attention  was  excited  by  a  procession  of  women 
of  all  castes  and  creeds  in  Poona,  who  went  to  the 
municipal  office  to  ask  that  elementary  education 
be  compulsory  for  girls  as  well  as  boys. 

Many  a  beautiful  and  interesting  personality  is 
back  of  these  various  movements.  And  back  of 
each  woman  leader  is  usually  some  noble-minded 
and  unselfish  husband  or  brother  or  father  who  has 
devoted  time  and  thought  to  the  uplift  of  wife  or 
sister  or  daughter.  When  the  history  of  the  awak- 
ening of  Indian  womanhood  is  written,  the  names  of 
these  men  will  have  to  be  mentioned  along  with 
those  of  the  women  pioneers.  The  memory  of  Jus- 
tice Ranade  will  long  be  treasured,  not  only  because 
he  stood  out  as  one  of  India's  greatest  modern  re- 
formers and  nation  builders,  but  because  of  all  that 


Striving  and  Aspiration  89 

he  enabled  his  wife  to  accomplish.  Perhaps  this  is 
what  you  would  expect  from  one  who  out  of  rever- 
ence touched  his  mother's  feet  each  morning 
throughout  her  life.  The  story  of  Mrs.  Ramabai 
Ranade^  may  be  taken  as  typical  of  what  has  hap- 
pened among  high-caste  Hindu  women  in  Calcutta, 
Madras,  Poona,  Bombay,  and  in  every  town  in  In- 
dia where  women's  societies  have  come  into  ex- 
istence. 

For  that  story  we  are  taken  back  to  a  summer 
night  in  1873.  A  young  man  of  thirty-two  had 
buried  his  face  in  his  hands,  his  soul  bent  with  re- 
morse and  grief,  as  he  sat  in  the  little,  dark  room  of 
his  Poona  home.  He  had  been  one  of  a  small  group 
of  young,  enthusiastic  social  reformers  who  had 
pledged  themselves  to  remain  unmarried  rather 
than  marry  a  child.  A  month  before  he  had  lost  his 
wife,  and  now,  in  spite  of  protest,  he  had  been  mar- 
ried again  to  a  little  girl  of  ten.  How  could  he  face 
his  friends?  How  could  he  again  be  happy  when, 
contrary  to  his  own  conscience,  he  had  done  a  thing 
which  could  never  be  undone.  In  the  zenana  (wom- 
en's quarter)  with  a  mother-in-law  and  sister-in-law 
seen  for  the  first  time  that  evening,  slept  the  little 
Brahman  bride,  Ramabai  Ranade. 

With  great  care  and  patience  the  husband  taught 
his  little  girl  wife.  It  was  arranged  for  a  mission- 
ary to  come  to  teach  her  English.  Her  taste  for 
reading  grew.  At  nineteen  she  came  under  the 
powerful  influence  of  Pandita  Ramabai  who  later 


^Abbreviated  from  a  paper  by  Mrs.  L.  P.  Larsen,  read  be- 
fore the  Bangalore  Missionary  Conference  (Harvest  Field, 
41:127-139)  from  which  many  of  the  facts  given  in  this 
section  have  been  obtained. 


go  Building  with  India 

became  a  Christian  and  one  of  India's  foremost 
women  leaders.  Throughout  these  years,  the  op- 
position from  the  other  women  of  her  household  was 
great.  They  enforced  a  rule  that  she  was  not  to 
make  herself  unpleasant  by  reading  downstairs, 
but  must  confine  her  studies  to  her  husband's  room. 
Because  she  attended  Pandita  Ramabai's  meetings, 
she  was  not  even  allowed  to  touch  the  other  women 
of  the  family  or  the  cooking  vessels  of  the  house. 
Many  a  time  as  a  girl,  when  ridiculed  by  the  con- 
servative women  of  the  household,  she  would  hide 
somewhere  and  weep,  not  mentioning  to  her  husband 
what  had  taken  place.  Thus  Ramabai  Ranade's 
mind  developed  and  matured  under  the  guidance  of 
her  husband  and  through  fellowship  with  Pandita 
Ramabai. 

In  the  year  1909,  Mrs.  Ranade  organized  the 
Poona  Seva  Sadan,  a  Society  which  has  now  grown 
to  be  the  first  organization  of  its  kind  in  India,  with 
a  fine  record  of  services  rendered  to  the  general 
community.  It  would  interest  any  forward-looking 
Westerner  to  glance  over  an  annual  report  of  this 
organization.'  There  are  on  the  rolls  of  the  dif- 
ferent departments  of  the  society's  educational  and 
industrial  classes  741  women,  and  141  women  are 
cared  for  in  their  hostels.  The  objects  of  the  society 
are  to  educate  women  through  regular  classes  and  to 
widen  the  range  of  their  knowledge  by  means  of 
libraries,  lectures,  tours,  and  excursions;  to  enable 
women  to  participate  intelligently  in  all  domestic, 


*A  copy  would  doubtless  be  sent  to  any  American  society 
addressing  its  request  to  the  Poona  Seva  Sadan,  Poona, 
India. 


Striving  and  Aspiration  91 

social,  and  national  responsibilities;  to  inculcate 
principles  of  self-reliance  and  mutual  helpfulness; 
and  actually  to  train  women  for  educational,  medi- 
cal, and  philanthropic  service  to  the  motherland. 
Their  mottoes  are:  "One  at  core,  if  not  in  creed" 
and  "Life  is  a  trust  for  living  and  self-sacrificing 
service." 

English-educated  women  often  take  the  leading 
part  in  societies  such  as  have  been  mentioned,  but 
in  many  places  the  leaders  have  had  no  university 
education  and  some  of  them  do  not  speak  English 
at  all.  In  fact,  a  remarkable  impetus  to  reform  is 
sometimes  given  by  a  quite  uneducated  girl.  Re- 
cently a  Brahman  student  in  America  was  recalling 
the  tragic  sacrifice  made  five  years  ago  by  a  young 
girl  of  his  birthplace,  Calcutta.  He  spoke  with  rev- 
erence of  her  startling  act  which  had  aroused  a 
Province.  The  father  of  the  girl  was  poor,  but  had 
made  every  effort  to  obtain  a  dowry  large  enough  to 
secure  a  husband  for  her,  but  in  vain.  At  last  she 
had  reached  the  exceptional  age  of  fourteen  with- 
out being  married,  and  the  father  determined  to 
mortgage  his  farm.  Snehalata  put  on  her  best 
clothes,  went  up  to  the  housetop,  soaked  herself  in 
kerosene,  and  before  the  whole  neighborhood  burned 
to  death.  The  following  translation  gives  the  call 
she  made  for  reformation : 

"Day  before  yesterday,  Father,  late  in  the  after- 
noon, when  you  returned  home,  footsore  and  weary, 
after  having  been  out  the  whole  day  since  the  break 
of  dawn,  I  saw  your  face,  saw  the  world  of  anguish 
and  despair  which  was  depicted  in  it,  and  heard  with 
my  own  ears  those  fatal  words,  'All  is  lost.'    That 


92  Building  with  India 

face  has  never  ceased  to  haunt  me  since.  Those 
words  are  still  ringing  in  my  ears.  Father,  I  can't 
bear  that  idea.  What  is  marriage  to  me,  except  as 
a  means  of  lifting  the  burden  of  anxiety  on  my  ac- 
count, which  lies  so  heavy  on  your  breast?  What 
social  obloquy  have  you  not  already  endured,  be- 
cause I  am  still  unmarried?  What  heroic  efforts 
have  you  not  already  made  to  find  a  suitable  match 
for  me,  and  with  what  ill  success?  Not  you,  adored 
Father,  but  I  am  to  be  the  sacrifice;  and  may  the 
conflagration  which  I  shall  kindle  set  the  whole 
country  on  fire !"  Many  a  public  meeting  followed 
this  event,  to  urge  reformation  in  the  abusive  cus- 
tom of  large  dowries  at  marriage. 

The  woman's  movement  is  not  confined  to  any 
one  caste  or  creed.  The  names  of  Hindus,  Parsis, 
Jews,  Muhammadans,  and  Christians  are  found  in 
the  membership  lists  of  the  various  societies,  often 
in  the  roll  of  the  same  society.  In  some  cases  Chris- 
tianity has  been  directly  responsible  for  the  impe- 
tus ;  more  often  its  influence  has  been  quite  indirect, 
but  none  the  less  causative.  One  great  spring  has 
been  the  patriotic  enthusiasm  accompanying  the 
strong  national  awakening  of  recent  years. 

VI 

A  second  major  question  must  interest  us  with 
reference  to  the  aspirations  of  our  potential  world 
partner,  India.  Does  she  respond  to  the  democratic 
temper  when  she  has  the  chance?  What  about  her 
political  sense  and  aspirations? 

In  God's  providence,  Britain  and  India  have  been 
brought   together — one,   a   proud   Oriental   people 


Striving  and  Aspiration  93 

with  an  admittedly  great  past;  the  other,  the  bat- 
thng,  independent  pioneer  for  the  whole  world  in 
the  development  of  free  political  institutions.  The 
romance  of  the  intermingling  and  interaction  of 
these  two  great  civilizations  fascinates  the  student. 
Can  we  catch  God's  purpose  both  for  Britain  and  for 
India  in  bringing  them  together?  Did  this  purpose 
go  no  further  than  securing  for  India  better  roads, 
scientifically  constructed  canals,  a  peaceful  and  ef- 
ficient administration,  and  a  general  amelioration  of 
life?  Can  we  say  that  the  Divine  intention  for  this 
strange,  unexpected  partnership  has  been  fulfilled? 
Certain  it  is  that  Britain  has  played  a  great  part 
in  the  renaissance  of  self-respect  and  sense  of  na- 
tional dignity  that  has  come  over  India,  until  at  last 
we  see  the  uprising  of  a  people,  passionately  seeking 
liberty — poHtical,  social,  and  economic.  The  urgent 
and  hazardous  crisis  through  which  India  is  passing 
bears  on  the  very  existence  of  the  British  Empire, 
and  hence  upon  the  welfare  of  the  world.  Standing 
as  we  are,  face  to  face  with  the  greatest  experiment 
in  the  creation  of  responsible  government  which  the 
world  has  ever  seen — ^the  introduction  of  practical 
self-government  into  a  land  containing  a  fifth  part 
of  the  human  race — an  imperative  call  is  found  for 
all  apostles  of  good-will  and  all  disciples  of  Christ. 
The  British  admit  that  they  have  made  blunders  in 
India  and  that  their  policy  has  often  been  selfish. 
But,  after  many  years  experience  in  India,  I  desire 
to  witness  to  the  high  estimation  which  the  great 
majority  of  American  missionaries  in  that  land  have 
for  the  degree  of  unity,  justice,  and  progress  which 
Britain  has  given  to  India.    Despite  a  bureaucratic 


94  Building  with  India 

attitude  which  tends  to  arise  in  any  government 
scheme,  an  increasing  number  of  Britishers  regard 
their  suzerainty  in  India  as  a  sacred  trust  with  all 
that  this  responsibility  involves.  I  believe  that 
I  British  rule  in  India  has  been  better  than  that  of 
any  other  alien  government  would  likely  have  been, 
and  that  on  the  whole  it  has  been  for  the  good  of 
India. 

In  directing  our  prayers  and  thoughts  toward 
India,  every  intelligent  Christian  of  the  West  should 
keep  in  mind  a  struggle  in  ideals  that  even  yet  goes 
on.  It  is  a  contest  in  which  magnanimity  and  self- 
ishness, the  highest  Christian  statesmanship  and 
reactionism  are  all  contending  for  the  mastery. 
There  is  something  dramatic  in  the  play  of  forces. 

Unfortunately,  there  have  been  always  those 
ready  to  exploit  India,  from  the  days  of  the  East 
India  Company  to  the  present  when  certain  mer- 
chants draw  wealth  from  India  without  returning 
intelligent  sympathy  or  setting  the  example  of  inter- 
racial duty  and  social  good-will.  In  fact,  not  until 
1858  when  political  control  was  transferred  from 
the  East  India  Company  to  the  Crown  was  there  a 
worthy  and  sustained  effort  to  make  Britain's  con- 
nection with  India  preeminently  for  the  economic, 
intellectual,  and  moral  good  of  the  people.  It  is 
selfishness  in  Britain,  for  instance,  that  has  been 
responsible  for  such  a  measure  as  the  abolition  of 
Indian  import  duties  in  the  interest  of  Lancashire's 
cotton  trade,  by  which  Indian  industry  received  a 
great  setback. 

But  the  great  body  of  British  officials  belongs  to 


Striving  and  Aspiration  95 

another  class — ^the  school  of  efficiency.    Interested  ^ 
in  the  moral  and  material  progress  of  the  land  and 
actuated  by  a  high  sense  of  duty,  they  have  built  up 
a  masterful  administrative  machine.    Trained  in  the 
high  traditions  of  their  order,  the  British  civil  ser- 
vants in  India  have  continued  to  be  second  to  none 
in  integrity  of  purpose  and  efficiency.    In  the  course 
of  a  few  generations  they  rescued  India  from  an- 
archy ;  unified  her  peoples ;  secured  peace  for  her  at 
'  home  and  abroad ;  maintained  equal  justice  amid  1 
jealous  and  often  hostile  communities  and  creeds;  ; 
established  new  standards  of  tolerance  and  integ- ' 
rity;  made  substantial  strides  in  spreading  educa- 
tion, conquering  famine,  combating  plague  and  ma- 
laria often  in  the  face  of  obstruction  and  prejudice; ; 
and  raised  the  whole  of  India  to  a  higher  plane  of , 
national  prosperity  and  of  moral  and  intellectual  de- 
velopment.   The  British  officer  in  India  spends  the 
best  part  of  his  life  far  from  home,  often  in  some  re- 
mote rural  area  which  has  involved  the  prolonged 
sacrifice  of  the  happiest  family  ties.     He  has  con- 
ceived his  task  to  be  faithful  administration  and  do- 
ing the  best  in  his  power  for  the  welfare  of  the 
people.^    But  this  type  of  Britisher  did  not  consider 
it  his  task  to  train  up  a  nation  on  democratic  lines,  or 
did  he  regard  it  as  compatible  with  the  suzerain  re- 
lation of  his  nation  to  comport  himself  democrati- 
cally in  his  contacts  with  the  Indian  people.    Some 
effort  was  made  to  consult  Indian  opinion,  but  the 
dominant    attitude    was    that    of    autocratic    pa- 


^Read  Kipling's  vivid  picture  of  "William  the  Conqueror," 
in  The  Day's  Work. 


g6  Building  with  India 

ternalism,  with  a  strong  sense  of  their  responsibili- 
ties as  guardians  and  protectors  of  the  simple  and 
ignorant  masses  committed  to  their  care. 

There  is  a  third  British  attitude.  There  have  al- 
ways been  Anglo-Indian  statesmen  who,  with  El- 
phinstone  and  Munro,  Macaulay  and  Edwardes, 
have  regarded  the  relationship  of  Britain  with  India 
as  temporary  and  have  looked  with  equanimity  and 
even  pride  to  the  future  in  which  Britain  would  be 
able  to  resign  into  the  hands  of  the  Indians  them- 
selves a  trusteeship  faithfully  discharged.  Such 
men  have  acknowledged  that  Britain  holds  India  as 
a  trust  for  the  Indian  people,  that  the  public  ser- 
vices should  be  Indianized,  and  that  a  policy  should 
be  pursued  as  generous  as  is  compatible  with  even 
tolerable  efficiency  and  with  the  safety  of  the  Em- 
pire. Many  there  are  who  acknowledge  a  duty  not 
only  to  afford  India  the  widest  opportunity  for  self- 
development,  but  also  to  endeavor  positively  and 
constructively  to  quicken  in  India  those  spiritual 
forces  which  Britain  has  found  to  be  the  soul  of 
liberty  and  progress.  Some  even  vision  a  time  when 
both  India  and  Britain  will  see  that  their  destinies 
are  dependent  upon  their  remaining  united  in  one 
great  equal  and  mutually  strengthening  federation 
— an  Indo-British  Empire.  They  hope  that  Britain 
and  India,  mutually  educating  one  another  through 
their  diversity  of  character,  traditions,  and  gifts, 
together  may  be  able  to  accomplish  in  the  world  task 
more  than  they  could  achieve  separately. 

India,  also,  has  her  struggle.  There  are  the  in- 
articulate masses  who  until  very  recently  have  cared 


Striving  and  Aspiration  97 

little  what  rulers  they  had  so  long  as  they  were  left 
undisturbed.  In  contrast  with  them,  there  has  grad- 
ually arisen  a  body  of  Western-educated  men.  It  is 
very  important  to  remember  that  these  constitute  an 
infinitesimal  minority.  They  are  often  separated  by 
a  wide  social  gulf  from  the  vast  village  population 
overwhelmingly  agricultural.  Some  of  them  (as  we 
have  seen  in  the  first  part  of  this  chapter)  have  con- 
fined their  efforts  to  social  reform.  They  have  held 
that  the  social  groundwork  must  be  reshaped  be- 
fore political  reconstruction  could  profitably  begin. 
Others,  finding  themselves  hopelessly  at  variance  in 
regard  to  questions  of  social  reform,  have  largely 
confined  their  efforts  to  political  reform  and  have 
ceaselessly  agitated  for  an  ever  increasing  measure 
of  self-government.  They  have  held  that  political 
changes  must  take  place  before  any  real  progress 
could  be  made.  A  few  have  been  actuated  by  caste 
rivalry  and  racial  hatred,  and,  with  little  interest  in 
or  knowledge  of  the  masses,  have  selfishly  schemed 
to  secure  power  in  the  hands  of  their  own  hereditary 
groups.  It  is  most  interesting  and  significant  that 
of  late  these  two  great  streams  of  self-help  in  India 
— the  social  and  the  political — have  begun  to  merge 
into  a  great  national  movement  embracing  in  its 
scope  the  social,  economic,  and  political  uplift  of  the 
country  as  a  whole. 

VII 

We  need  not  go  back  into  India's  ancient  history 
—the  Hindu  period  from  650  B.  C.  to  1193  A.  D.  and 
the  Muhammadan  period  1193  to  1761.  But  a  resume 


g8  Building  with  India 

of  the  next  period^ — ^the  British — will  help  to  give 
the  background  we  need.  It  is  noteworthy  that  it 
began  merely  in  the  desire  for  trade.  Only  gradually, 
partly  to  protect  commercial  gains  already  se- 
cured, partly  because  of  a  feeling  that  it  would  be 
morally  unjustifiable  to  permit  widespread  disorder, 
did  the  East  India  Company  extend  its  territorial 
sway.  In  this  way  India,  which  in  her  long  history 
had  never  before  been  united  under  one  government 
either  native  or  foreign,  was  unified  politically  un- 
der Britain.2  A  series  of  great  administrators 
brought  order  out  of  chaotic  conditions.  Finding 
themselves  arbiters  of  vast  conflicting  interests,  and 
invested  with  semi-autocratic  powers, — executive, 
financial,  and  judicial, — ^they  fell  into  a  way  of  de- 
veloping a  paternal  despotism  with  order  imposed 
from  without.  Foreigners  were  at  its  head  through- 
out and  pushed  on  their  work  of  efficiency  and  devel- 
opment without  trying  to  train  Indian  public  opin- 
ion to  an  intelligent  participation  in  the  principles 
and  aims  of  British  policy. 

In  the  meantime,  English  education,  officially  in- 
troduced in  1833,  was  raising  up  a  Western-edu- 
cated class.  These  people  began  to  develop  a  strong 
sense  of  grievance  because  they  had  no  adequate 
place  in  the  foreign-made  administrative  structure. 
Furthermore,  the  very  literature  to  which  they  had 
been  introduced  through  the  English  education  they 
had  received — ^the  works  of  such  men  as  Burke  and 


Tor  this,  the  files  of  the  Round  Table  and  the  Indian  So- 
cial Reformer,  among  others,  have  been  consulted. 

^Although  under  this  paramount  power,  to  this  day  675 
Indian  princes  rule  in  one  third  the  area  and  over  one  fifth 
of  the  total  population. 


Striving  and  Aspiration  gg 

Mill — made  them  restive  for  a  more  liberal  form  of 
government. 

Moreover,  the  means  of  acquiring  a  common  spirit 
were  developing.  Railways  and  better  roads  were 
removing  the  isolation  of  one  section  from  another. 
The  universal  use  of  English  in  the  universities  was 
enabling  leaders  to  get  together  who  otherwise 
would  have  had  to  speak  in  seventeen  principal  and 
over  one  hundred  subordinate  tongues.  A  common 
currency  and  a  unified  post  and  telegraph  system 
were  aiding  communication.  Over  all  was  the 
foreign  Raj  (Government)  against  which  common 
interest  could  be  stirred;  and  a  press  both  in 
English  and  the  vernacular  was  rapidly  developing. 

By  1885,  a  progressive  group  of  educated  Indians 
was  able  to  organize  the  Indian  National  Congress 
which  ever  since  has  been  a  powerful  force  not  only 
in  focusing  India's  political  thought,  but  also  in 
strenuously  demanding  from  the  British  a  remodel- 
ing of  the  machinery  of  government.  But  Asia  had 
not  had  "responsible"  government,  or  a  representa 
tive  system — ^two  methods  of  deciding  public  ques- 
tions which  have  been  developed  in  the  West.  Brit- 
ain saw  no  great  gain  in  turning  over  government  to 
a  limited  class  when  an  electorate  to  which  they 
could  be  responsible  had  still  to  be  created,  largely 
from  illiterate  masses. 

The  Indian  Councils  Act  of  1892  introduced  the 
elective  idea,  but  made  no  efforts  to  enlarge  the 
boundaries  of  the  educated  classes  or  to  provide 
them  with  any  training  in  responsible  government. 
The  Minto-Morley  reforms  of  1909  still  further  in-  1 
creased  the  number  of  Indians  elected  to  imperial ; 


100  Building  with  India 

and  provincial  councils,  greatly  enlarged  their  pow- 
ers of  criticising  the  government,  but  unfortunately 
gave  them  no  real  responsibility  to  test  and  sober 
them.  Meanwhile,  the  prolonged  difficulties  for  the 
British  raised  by  the  South  African  War,  the  sensa- 
tional victory  of  an  Asiatic  over  a  European  Power 
in  the  Russo-Japanese  War,  and  the  revolutionary 
movement  in  Russia  which  compelled  the  autocracy 
to  surrender  some  of  its  authority  to  a  popular  as- 
sembly had  created  a  ferment  throughout  educated 
India. 

A  party  of  "Extremists"  developed  who  were 
more  or  less  openly  against  British  rule.  Irritated 
by  instances  of  foreign  exploitation,  they  had  no  at- 
tention left  for  social  reform.  The  one  thing  neces- 
sary was  to  get  the  objectionable  cinder  out  of  In- 
dia's eye.  They  were  aggressively  impatient  at  the 
inability  of  the  Indian  National  Congress  to  force 
the  hands  of  Government  by  any  constitutional  form 
of  agitation,  and  they  very  deeply  resented  the 
indifference  of  Government  to  the  pleas  of  the  "mod- 
erates," who  disliked  revolutionary  methods  and 
who  were  grateful  for  the  work  of  past  generations 
of  Englishmen. 

Most  educated  Indians  today  have  their  keenly 
felt  grievances  against  the  British  government. 
They  lament  the  great  proportion  of  their  budget 
that  goes  to  an  army  for  which  they  do  not  acknowl- 
edge a  need  and  that  is  used  for  ends  in  which  they 
have  no  voice.  The  resulting  small  percentage  of 
total  revenue  available  for  education  pains  them. 
They  charge  Englishmen  with  designedly  keeping 
India  a  producer  of  raw  materials  and  a  consumer 


Striving  and  Aspiration  xoi 

of  manufactures.  They  claim  that  Indians  have 
conspicuously  shown  their  ability  at  the  bar,  on  the 
bench,  in  literature,  and  of  late  in  science,  and  that 
therefore  they  should  receive  a  greater  place  in  gov- 
erning. They  contend  that  the  British,  v^rrapped 
up  in  the  superiority  of  race  and  traditions,  are  too 
aloof  and  conservative;  that  only  Indians — not 
aliens — can  interpret  the  needs  and  interests  of 
their  people.  They  admit  a  certain  inexperience, 
but  strenuously  object  to  being  kept  out  of  the  water 
until  they  have  learned  to  swim. 

They  say  that  the  Government  has  been  slow  to 
see  that  times  have  been  changing ;  and  that,  while 
in  no  way  relaxing  their  efforts  for  the  moral  and 
material  progress  of  the  country,  the  British  could 
have  definitely  adopted  a  policy  of  giving  Indians 
the  experience  and  sense  of  responsibility  and  mass 
education  essential  to  the  development  of  democratic 
institutions.  British  rulers,  they  hold,  have  failed 
to  see  that  their  mission  was  to  educate  the  people 
entrusted  to  their  charge  up  to  their  own  level  of 
political  development.  Their  desire  to  see  things 
efficiently  done  excluded  the  desire  to  see  Indians 
try  to  do  them. 

Nevertheless,  Britain  has  been  true  to  her  highest 
self  in  the  unconscious  way  in  which  she  has  been 
educating  India  to  the  highest  that  she  herself  knew. 
Since  1833,  the  educational  system  has  placed  in  the 
hands  of  Indian  youth  the  philosophies  and  histories 
and  poems  which  told  of  England's  struggle  for  pop- 
ular rights;  how  one  king  after  another  was  be- 
headed or  driven  away  until  through  a  series  of  re- 
form bills  the  franchise  was  extended  to  practically 


102  Building  with  India 

all  her  people.  Britain  has  not  tried  to  hide  from 
India  the  truth  that  at  heart  she  abhors  autocracy. 

Many  British  are  ready  to  acknowledge  with  re- 
gret the  wrongs  inflicted  upon  the  people  of  India  in 
the  days  of  the  old  East  India  Company,  but  are 
proud  to  recall  that  it  was  they  themselves  who 
exposed  the  wrongs  and  tried  some  of  the  chief  per- 
petrators. They  acknowledge  that  India's  beautiful 
household  industries  have  been  driven  to  the  wall, 
but  hold  that  if  British  industry  had  not  done  this, 
the  industry  of  other  European  countries  or 
America  would  have  effected  the  same  result.  They 
admit  that  free  trade  and  the  introduction  of  ma- 
chinery have  brought  bitter  hardships  upon  Indian 
workmen,  but  show  how  these  have  borne  down 
heavily  upon  labor  the  world  over.  They  hold,  fur- 
thermore, that  it  is  not  so  much  Britain  as  Western 
industrial  and  competitive  civilization  that  is  to 
blame;  that  India  has  been  the  victim  not  of  a 
personal  and  racial  greed  and  malice  peculiar  to 
Britain,  but  of  an  international  system  which  has 
brought  all  Western  peoples  to  the  brink  of  destruc- 
tion. 

The  British  would  say  that  they  have  sincerely 
believed  in  free  trade  on  the  ground  that  if  a  given 
industry  could  not  survive  competition,  the  country 
was  better  off  without  it.  Through  them  and 
through  other  Western  peoples,  the  Christian  con- 
science has  been  permeating  Indian  life,  rectifying 
many  a  social  evil,  and  establishing  new  standards. 
Common  humanitarian  impulses  of  the  West  have 
inspired  the  struggle  against  famine  and  pestilence. 
If  a  critic  charges  them  with  having  accomplished 


Striving  and  Aspiration  103 

little,  they  admit  that  relative  to  the  need  this  is 
true,  but  that  if  India  had  not  been  so  poor  and  if 
their  staff  had  not  consequently  been  so  limited, 
more  would  have  been  done.  It  should  be  remem- 
bered that  until  a  comparatively  recent  date  even  in 
England  compulsory  mass  education  was  not  ap- 
proved. 

VIII 

The  World  War  brought  things  to  a  climax.  With- 
out conscription,  a  million  and  a  quarter  Indians 
went  to  the  front,  and  Indian  princes  vied  with  one 
another  in  contributions  of  money,  troops,  and  sup- 
plies. Grateful  for  India's  loyal  assistance,  British 
ministers  solemnly  pledged  a  reward  to  India.  The 
War  brought  to  the  forefront  of  public  discussion 
the  problem  of  imperial  reconstruction  to  follow, 
and  of  India's  place  within  the  Empire.  Specula- 
tions and  even  concrete  proposals  engrossed  the  ar- 
ticulate minds  of  India.  India,  the  people  said,  was 
willing  to  remain  steadfast  to  the  British  connection 
in  the  same  way  as  the  Dominions,  but,  like  the  Do- 
minions, she  must  be  given  home  rule.  It  has  some- 
times seemed  doubtful  whether  the  Indians  could  be 
restrained  until  the  now  illiterate  millions  had  been 
trained  into  electorates  capable  of  giving  an  intelli- 
gent mandate  to  their  representatives  or  until  ad- 
ministrators could  be  found  among  such  representa- 
tives qualified  to  discharge  the  functions  of  respon- 
sible government.  Increasing  numbers  demanded 
that  home  rule  should  be  given  at  once  and  in  full. 
Even  if  one  were  to  sympathize  with  every  legiti- 
mate longing  of  nationalism  in  India,  it  constitutes 


104  Building  with  India 

a  tantalizing  problem  as  to  what  should  be  done. 
Adolescent  India  may  easily  hurt  herself  with  unac- 
customed instruments.  Many  a  parent  has  had  to 
face  the  same  problem  with  an  ambitious  and  head- 
strong son. 

At  last,  stirred  by  the  insistent  demands  of  In- 
dia's leaders,  the  attention  of  Britain  was  secured. 
In  1917  came  a  momentous  pronouncement,  the  most 
important  ever  made  in  the  history  of  British  India. 
It  declared  that  the  future  policy  of  His  Majesty's 
Government  would  be:  "The  increasing  association 
of  Indians  in  every  branch  of  administration  and 
the  gradual  development  of  self-governing  institu- 
tions with  a  view  to  the  progressive  realization  of 
responsible  government  in  India  as  an  integral  part 
of  the  British  Empire."  By  it,  the  principle  of 
autocracy  was  for  the  first  time  deliberately  and  ex- 
plicitly abandoned. 

The  Act,  which  was  finally  passed  in  1919,  trans- 
ferred certain  branches  of  administration  in  each, 
provincial  government  wholly  to  the  responsible 
control  of  an  actual,  though  limited,  Indian  electo- 
rate. Under  "transferred"  subjects  Indians  have  ef- 
fective control  of  education,  public  works,  forests, 
agriculture,  sanitation,  excise,  the  control  and  en- 
couragement of  industries,  etc.  Legislative  and  ad- 
ministrative responsibility  for  other  branches  of 
government,  such  as  the  army  and  navy,  police,  tele- 
graph, railway,  and  other  revenue  departments  re- 
main in  British  control.  There  is  now  a  majority 
of  elected  Indian  representatives  in  each  of  India's 
eight  provincial  councils  and  also  in  her  national 
legislature.    The  members  of  these  bodies  have  be- 


Striving  and  Aspiration  105 

gun  to  realize  their  increased  powers  to  such  an 
extent  that  the  new  constitution  may  be  regarded  as 
a  forcing-house  which,  even  more  than  the  War,  is 
bringing  political  self -consciousness  to  maturity. 

IX 

Unfortunately,  the  very  years  which  brought  the 
Act  of  1919  brought  other  events  which  embittered 
the  soul  of  India  to  an  unprecedented  degree.  At 
the  close  of  the  War  a  thick  blue  book  was  published 
in  India,  detailing  the  plots  and  conspiracies  against 
the  government  which  had  partially  developed  and 
had  been  suppressed.  As  a  result  of  this  investiga- 
tion, the  Government  passed  the  Rowlatt  Act,  ena- 
bling them  to  deal  autocratically  with  possible 
anarchy  and  sedition.  Since  the  Act  was  passed  in 
the  face  of  the  unil;ed  opposition  of  all  Indian  public 
opinion,  it  was  a  severe  blow  to  Indian  pride.  In 
their  view,  it  not  only  endangered  their  freedom, 
but  stigmatized  them  before  the  world  as  a  country 
of  anarchists.    They  called  it  the  "black  cobra  act." 

Moreover,  the  Muhammadans  had  their  grievance. 
They  had  interpreted  certain  statements  by  British 
statesmen  as  guaranteeing  that  at  the  end  of  the 
War  nothing  would  be  done  to  dim  the  prestige  of 
the  Sultan  as  spiritual  head  of  Islam.  This  seemed  1 
to  them  a  perfectly  fitting  return  for  the  loyalty  of 
seventy  million  Muhammadans  in  India.^  When  the 
peace  terms  for  Turkey  came  out,  Muhammadans 
claimed  that  the  pledges  as  interpreted  by  them  had 
been    flagrantly    broken.      Tremendous    opposition 


^Limits  of  space  have  necessitated  the  merest  mention  in 
this  book  of  this  important  element  in  modern  India. 


io6  Building  with  India 

was  aroused,  and  agitators  succeeded  in  uniting 
Hindus  and  Muhammadans  in  denouncing  Britain 
for  her  part  in  this  decision  with  reference  to  the 
Caliphate,  so  central  in  Moslem  thought. 

As  a  third  disturbing  element,  India's  long-stand- 
ing grievance  concerning  the  discrimination  made 
by  their  fellow  British  subjects  against  Indians  who 
had  emigrated  to  the  colonies  of  East  Africa  again 
created  bitterness.  Finally,  largely  as  the  result  of 
the  Rowlatt  Act,  came  a  most  unfortunate  series  of 
events  in  the  Punjab.  The  authorities,  fearing  a 
repetition  of  the  mutiny  of  1857,  used  what  all  In- 
dians and  many  British  believed  to  be  quite  unwar- 
ranted and  humiliating  severity  in  dealing  with  the 
situation.  These  terrorizing  measures  centered  in 
the  city  of  Amritsar,  so  that  this  name  was  on  the 
lips  of  everyone  in  India  in  1919.  Hearts  in  India's 
farthest  village  were  embittered  by  the  stories  which 
reached  them  from  the  Punjab. 

It  was  in  these  days  that  Gandhi  rose  to  leader- 
ship in  India  and  launched  one  of  the  most  dramatic 
movements  in  recent  history — ^the  non-cooperation 
movement.  This  was  an  attempted  boycott  of  every- 
thing connected  with  British  rule.  Indians  were  to 
set  up  their  own  courjta.  and  to  provide  their  own 
national jchoola.  They  were  not  to  vote  for  or  serve 
in  the  new  legislatures  or  work  in  government  of- 
fices or  use  any  foreign  goods»  A  great  prohibition 
campaign  partly  crippled  the  revenue  from  excise. 
Students  lay  on  the  steps  of  colleges  so  that  anyone 
insisting  on  entering  must  do  so  over  their  bodies. 
Titles  and  honors  bestowed  by  Government  were  to 


Striving  and  Aspiration  107 

be  returned.  In  the  end,  taxes  were  to  be  refused. 
By  such  methods,  Gandhi  predicted  that  the  Gov- 
ernment would  be  reduced  to  impotence  within  a 
few  months.  There  were  some  noble  sides  to  this 
movement,  but  on  the  whole  it  was  unwise  and  un-^ 
practical,  and  has  aroused  increasing  opposition  on 
the  part  of  influential  and  sober-minded  Indiana^ 
Its  results,  however,  have  served  to  reveal  the  deep 
and  serious  nature  of  India's  unrest,  and  that  the 
old-time  glamour  which  surrounded  the  very  name, 
"British  Raj,"  has  been  dissipated.  If  Gandhi  and 
his  followers  persist  in  carrying  out  the  more  ex- 
treme features  of  his  program,  it  will  certainly 
have  most  serious  consequences  for  the  peace  of 
India. 

It  would  be  quite  wrong  to  associate  India  as  yet 
with  the  so-called  "yellow"  or  "black  perils."  But  it 
is  terribly  significant  that  some  Indians  are  begin- 
ning to  trace  the  root  of  all  India's  troubles  to  one 
single  principle — ^the  menace  which  they  believe 
white  predominance  is  to  the  honor,  liberty,  and  life_. 
of  non-white  races  and  nations.  In  Amritsar  and 
the  martial  law  excesses  of  the  Punjab,  they  see  an 
effort  to  establish  white  predominance  by  terrorism ; 
in  the  Caliphate  decision,  the  arrogant  assertion  of 
the  whites  to  rule  non-white  peoples ;  in  the  humilia- 
ting position  forced  on  Indians  in  the  self-governing 
colonies  and  in  East  Africa,  a  claim  of  the  whites  to 
keep  down  non-whites.  Put  this  way,  the  Indo- 
British  problem  becomes  the  concern  of  every  West- 
ern person. 


io8  Building  with  India 

X 

A  perusal  of  this  chapter  makes  it  plain  that  In- 
dia has  at  last  become  self-conscious.  She  has  awak- 
ened to  a  sense  of  her  own  need.  Thousands  of  her 
sons  are  at  work  to  bring  in  a  better  day. 

As  we  consider  India's  many  social  and  political 
movements,  what  should  be  our  attitude  and  policy? 
Indian  nationalism  raises  acutely  the  difficult  prob- 
lem as  to  a  missionary's  relation  to  political  matters. 
It  is  natural  for  Indians  who  believe  that  their  coun- 
try is  being  wronged  to  feel  that  those  who  pretend 
to  love  them  should  also  denounce  the  wrongs.  In 
India  some  of  the  missionaries  are  citizens  of  the 
governing  nation;  others  are  there  by  the  permis- 
sion and  courtesy  of  that  nation.  Obviously  the  re- 
sponsibility for  criticism  in  these  two  cases  will  be 
different.  Some  balance  must  be  found  between  an 
exclusive  emphasis  on  underlying  principles  without 
reference  to  the  time  and  place  of  their  application, 
and  action  on  the  conviction  that  the  gospel  is  for 
society  as  well  as  the  individual,  and  that  one's  mis- 
sion is  to  make  Christ's  spirit  dominant  in  every 
aspect  of  man's  associated  life. 

We  can  see  plainly  that  what  India  wants  is  that 
the  West  should  not  do  all  the  work,  but  by  example, 
encouragement,  and  cooperation  should  enable  her 
to  get  under  way,  India  does  not  wish  to  be  super- 
intended, managed,  or  ruled,  but  longs  for  the  ex- 
perience that  will  enable  her  to  develop  and  rule 
herself.  She  has  come  to  the  place  where  she  will 
refuse  patronage,  but  she  will  welcome  respect  and 
sympathy.  These  political  aspirations  all  have  their 
analogues  in  mission  work  and  the  Indian  Church. 


Striving  and  Aspiration  log 

We  are,  therefore,  thankful  for  missionary  states- 
men who  have  the  imagination  and  initiative  to  re- 
shape our  methods  where  necessary,  so  that  the  re- 
sult will  be — not  work  done  or  culture  transferred — 
but  a  nation  assisted  to  help  itself  and  in  touch  with 
the  Highest. 

Let  us  recall  the  great  woman's  movement  that  is 
going  on  in  India  and  inquire  what  our  attitude 
should  be  toward  it.  Here  we  must  be  careful  not 
to  interpret  the  movement  as  a  conscious  trend 
toward  Christianity.  That  Hindu  v/omen  are  willing 
to  meet  with  European  women  for  a  social  hour  on 
more  or  less  Western  lines  or  for  philanthropic 
work  of  a  range  hitherto  unprecedented  in  India 
does  not  mean  that  they  are  any  the  less  zealous 
about  their  own  religion.  Hindu  women  are  very 
devout.  As  they  face  the  enormous  problems  of  the 
social  regeneration  of  their  land  and  seek  to  develop 
a  larger,  freer  life  for  India's  womanhood,  it  is  quite 
natural  for  them  to  turn  for  solution  and  support  to 
their  own  religion.  In  fact,  some  of  the  societies 
conduct  a  weekly  religious  meeting,  and  we  need  not 
be  surprised  that  even  educated  Indian  women  at- 
tempt to  ex:haust  all  sources  of  help  in  Hinduism  be- 
fore they  are  ready  to  acknowledge  any  debt  to  the 
principles  and  spirit  of  Christianity. 

Suppose  you  happened  to  pass  a  powerful  tour- 
ing car  stalled  at  the  foot  of  the  Rockies.  The  owners 
of  the  car  are  eager  to  proceed.  They  are  thrilled 
with  reports  of  the  view  from  the  top,  but  are 
neither  experienced  in  the  management  of  their  ma- 
chine, nor  do  they  know  the  road.  You  would  of 
course  stop  to  help  them.    Instead  of  pushing  on  the 


no  Building  with  India 

wheels, — a  hopeless,  impossible  task, — ^you  would 
examine  the  gas-tank.  Is  there  any  propelling  power 
there?  Perhaps  there  is  an  inferior  quality  of 
gasoline.  It  might  run  on  the  level,  but  cannot 
climb  rough,  steep  roads.  You  would  change  this 
first,  then  you  would  give  them  advice  about  the 
road  and  how  to  avoid  the  worst  places  ahead  such 
as  you  had  passed  through.  If  you  were  thoroughly 
eager  that  they  should  reach  the  top  in  safety,  you 
would  see  that  someone  went  along  to  show  the  way. 
Just  so  with  India's  powerful  womanhood.  Today  it 
seeks  the  freedom  of  higher  levels.  The  machinery 
is  all  right — ^the  women  have  the  capacity.  They  do 
not,  however,  have  modern  experience  and  educa- 
tion, and  Hinduism  is  an  entirely  inadequate  mix- 
ture. It  cannot  generate  enough  power.  The  secret 
of  climbing  successfully  is  Christ  in  the  heart.  Will 
India  discover  this  in  time?  Let  someone  tell  her! 
Our  women  of  the  West  do  not  claim  to  have  reached 
the  summit,  but  they  have  been  making  the  climb 
recently  and  still  remember  the  hard  places.  Volun- 
teers are  needed  to  help  India  to  pick  out  the  way. 

Could  any  greater  appeal  be  made  to  the  sister- 
hood of  women  than  this  struggle  against  great  odds 
on  the  part  of  India's  daughters?  Reverence  for 
personality  and  the  respect  for  women  inspired  by 
our  Lord  have,  after  long  centuries,  given  rise  even- 
tually to  our  Western  woman's  movement.  In  the 
great,  world-wide  process  of  the  emancipation  of 
womanhood,  problems  that  have  long  since  been 
solved  by  us  are  opening  out  before  India's  women 
as  at  last  they  are  becoming  conscious  of  their  need. 
We  are  sadly  aware  that  even  in  our  own  country 


Striving  and  Aspiration  xxz 

there  has  been  all  too  little  direct  and  conscious 
seeking  of  His  guidance  and  control.  Shall  we  then 
let  India's  women  work  out  their  problems  alone? 
Or  shall  they  be  enabled  to  evolve  in  the  light  that 
Christ  can  throw  upon  their  problems,  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  greatest  personality  this  world  has 
known,  God's  revelation  of  what  a  human  life  may 
be? 

The  years  of  greatest  opportunity  for  befriending 
the  cause  of  India's  womanhood  are  passing  even  j 
now.    Aspiration   for   nationalism,   which   has   so ; 
stirred  the  men,  has  fired  the  hearts  of  the  women  i 
also.    They  may  not  long  welcome  an  "outside  in-  , 
fluence."    Now,  however,  things  are  plastic  as  never 
before. 

In  some  instances  Indian  Christians  and  mission- 
aries have  been  members,  sometimes  the  originators 
and  officers,  of  these  women's  societies.  As  such, 
they  have  given  abundantly  of  the  fruits  of  friend- 
ship. To  some,  this  may  not  be  what  they  have  con- 
sidered missionary  service,  but  in  these  days  work- 
ers must  ever  be  alive  and  flexible  in  their  methods 
— as  eagerly  alert  as  love  itself.  Ways  of  meeting 
the  human  needs  of  India  which  were  begun  sixty 
years  ago  may  not  all  be  suited  entirely  to  this  day, 
and  only  lack  of  imagination  will  keep  on  working 
in  the  same  old  way.  However,  it  is  not  always  easy 
for  missionary  women  to  be  sufficiently  in  touch 
with  the  class  of  women  who  are  shaping  these  mod- 
ern movements,  for  there  is  a  problem  here.  Where 
will  one's  energies  count  most  for  the  Kingdom? 
How  much  time  should  one  spend  in  getting  into 
touch  with  women  who  do  not  want  one's  aid? 


112  Building  with  India 

Where  the  women  in  these  clubs  wish  only  to  be 
amused  and  almost  resent  instruction,  missionaries 
often  decide  to  help  the  poor  to  work,  rather  than 
the  rich  to  play. 

With  reference  to  social  reform  in  general,  so  co- 
lossal are  the  needs  and  so  entrenched  the  backward 
customs  that  the  struggle  is  going  to  be  a  long  one. 
Precious  as  are  the  effects  on  mind  and  conscience 
produced  by  the  Indian  reform  movements,  the  ac- 
tual results  on  social  customs  come  very  slowly. 
Seeing  India  fighting,  and  fighting  against  such  odds, 
in  her  struggle  to  change  custom  and  institution  and 
belief,  are  we  not  going  to  extend  the  straightfor- 
ward help  of  a  friend?  All  acknowledge  the  sym- 
pathy and  support  of  Christian  missionaries  in  the 
past.  In  fact  it  may  be  said  that  the  Indian  social 
movement  is  a  direct  result  of  Christianity  and 
Western  influence,  for  the  wider  conception  of  the 
worth  of  personality  does  not  come  from  Hinduism. 
Not  infrequently,  Hindu  social  reformers  have  had 
to  meet  the  charge  that  they  were  playing  into  the 
hands  of  Christian  missionaries. 

It  will  readily  be  seen,  however,  that  these  modern 
religious  and  social  movements  make  actual  accept- 
ance of  membership  in  our  Western  Church  system 
much  more  difficult.  While  many  who  have  been  at- 
tracted by  the  teaching  and  work  of  the  missionaries 
identify  themselves  with  Christian  organizations, 
the  great  majority  are  content  to  accept  only  the 
practical  lessons  and  adopt  merely  the  ethics  of 
Jesus.  Hence,  the  churches  receive  relatively  few 
additions  from  the  higher  castes.  Yet,  neverthe- 
less.   Christian   ideas   and   standards   are   rapidly 


Striving  and  Aspiration  113 

spreading.  High  moral  and  social  standards  which 
a  few  decades  ago  were  associated  solely  with  Chris- 
tianity have  now  become  the  accepted  standard  of 
public  opinion.  Hence,  Hindu  social  and  religious 
reformers  have  been  diffusing  the  idea  that  eyil  cus- 
toms and  superstitions  are  not  of  the  essence  of  the  . 
Hindu  religion.  This  is  a  great  tribute  to  the  in- 
fluence of  Christianity,  but  at  the  same  time  it  de- 
prives it  of  one  of  its  major  assets  in  its  evangelistic 
appeal. 

In  Alexander  Duff's  time  there  were  no  half-way 
places  between  unpurged  Hinduism  and  Christian- 
ity. Educated  men  were  not  defending  and  inter- 1 
preting  their  old  religions,  and  Hinduism  had  no^ 
modern  leaders.  The  decision  before  a  serious  and 
awakened  Hindu  was  whether  Christianity  or  ag- 
nosticism was  to  be  his  path.  This  is  undoubtedly 
one  reason  for  the  contrast  between  Duff's  brilliant 
galaxy  of  high-caste  converts  and  the  dearth  of 
modern  baptisms  in  mission  colleges.  It  was  about 
the  year  1870  that  intelligent  Indians  began  to 
search  for  a  spiritual  basis  for  a  new  India  in  their 
own  scriptures.  As  a  consequence,  there  are  now 
some  forty  different  societies  representing  various 
stages  of  break  with  orthodox  Hinduism  and  from 
which  a  discontented  Hindu  may  now  choose.  No 
one  need  any  longer  become  a  Christian  merely  in  / 
order  to  dine  or  marry  outside  his  caste. 

Is  this  trend  toward  the  Christianization  of  public 
opinion  and  effort  in  India  really  a  drawback  to  mis- 
sionary work?  Or  is  this  a  result  for  which  we 
should  be  devoutly  thankful ;  one,  indeed,  which  we 
may  well  have  expected  as  a  natural  outcome  of 


1X4  Building  with  India 

Christianity's  approach  to  India?  May  it  be  pos- 
sible that  Hinduism,  under  the  impact  of  a  develop- 
ing Christian  Church,  can  slough  off  many  of  its  evil 
superstitious  accretions  and  still  remain  essential 
Hinduism?  Should  we  be  glad  for  any  ethical  and 
social  progress  in  India  apart  from  a  frank  and  full 
acceptance  of  Christ's  Saviorship?  Granted  that 
India's  efforts  to  help  herself  have  led  to  reform 
movements  within  her  own  religions  which  have 
made  conversion  to  Christianity  more  difficult  to- 
day, can  you  still  be  enthusiastic  over  India's  efforts 
to  help  herself?  Can  it  be  that  the  creation  of  public 
sentiment  sympathetic  with  Christian  ideals  for  in- 
dividual and  social  life  is  simply  one  stage,  from 
which  the  next  step  may  be  taken — a  Christian  wit- 
ness to  the  way  in  which  the  basal  spiritual  hunger 
and  urge  may  be  met  and  satisfied?  Surely  India's 
social  reformers  and  political  leaders,  awakened  and 
inspired  by  the  West,  have  a  right  to  our  continued 
help  and  encouragement.  Above  all,  have  they  a 
right  to  that  Life  to  whom  we  directly  trace  our 
most  precious  blessings  and  truest  progress,  a  Life 
that  perhaps  in  new  and  unexpected  ways  we  may 
now  commend  with  poignancy  and  power  to  aspir- 
ing, yearning,  and  prophetic  spirits  among  India's 
needy  folk. 


Prayer 

At  the  end  of  this  chapter,  where  we  have  been  look- 
ing at  India's  endeavor  to  help  herself,  it  is  fitting  that 
we  should  follow  two  of  her  own  great  prayers. 

dFrom  the  unreal  lead  me  to  the  Real,  from  the 
darkness  lead  me  to  Light,  from  death  lead  me  to 
Immortality. 

Brihad-Aranyaka  Unpanishad, 
1-3-28  {600  B.  C.) 

Where  the  mind  is  without  fear  and  the  head  is  held 
high; 

Where  knowledge  is  free; 

Where  the  world  has  not  been  broken  into  fragments 
by  narrow  domestic  walls; 

Where  words  come  out  from  the  depth  of  truth; 

Where  tireless  striving  stretches  its  arm  toward  per- 
fection; 

Where  the  clear  stream  of  reason  has  not  lost  its  way 
into  the  dreary  desert  sand  of  dead  habit; 

Where  the  mind  is  led  forward  by  Thee  into  ever- 
widening  thought  and  action; 

Into  that  heaven  of  Freedom,  my  Father,  let  my 
country  awake. 

— Rabindranath  Tagore 


115 


CHAPTER  FOUR 

Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West 

I 

In  a  day  when  the  nations  of  the  earth  are  awak- 
ening to  the  claims  of^brotherhood,  and  when  inter- 
national trust  and  goodwill  are  being  stressed  as 
the'great  way  to  peace  and  prosperity,  people  are  be- 
ginning to  recognize  foreign  missions  as  one  of  the 
most  effective  movements  in  human  history.  Inter- 
nationalism has  been  implicit  in  Christianity  from 
the  beginning.  Its  service,  its  message,  its  salvation 
could  not  be  confined  to  individual,  to  family,  or  to 
community,  but  must  grasp  nothing  less  than  the 
whole  world.  In  it  has  been  an  impulsive  power 
that  has  sent  forth  a  noble  succession  of  devoted 
men  and  women  who  left  Western  shores  to  spend 
their  lives  in  behalf  of  the  peoples  of  other  lands. 

India  is  rich  in  missionary  heroes,  and  in  these 
lives  the  Church  has  a  great  storehouse  of  inspiring 
example  and  accomplishment.  There  is  Francis 
Xavier,  who,  when  he  started  to  India  in  1542  to  be- 
come the  founder  of  Roman  Catholic  missions  there, 
abstained  from  interviewing  his  widowed  mother 
and  much  loved  sister  lest  he  should  be  tempted  to 
draw  back.  We  see  him  later  living  for  over  a  year 
among  the  lowcaste  Paravas,  on  rice  and  water, 
spending  sometimes  twenty-one  hours  a  day  in 
prayer  and  work,  and  habitually  calling  the  children 
together  in  each  new  village,  by  means  of  his  bell, 
in  order  to  teach  them.     Although  Xavier,   as  a 

Jesuit,  used  many  methods  of  which  we  would  not 

116 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  117 

approve,  it  is  not  surprising  that  to  this  day  Chris- 
tians gather  under  the  banyan  tree  which  he  planted 
at  Rameswaram  to  mingle  the  name  of  this  de- 
voted, courageous,  indefatigable  worker  with  their 
prayers. 

In  contrast  with  the  welcome  accorded  to  modern 
recruits  is  the  way  the  delicate  Ziegenbalg  was  ter- 
ribly opposed  by  the  Danish  authorities  when  he 
landed  in  Tranquebar  in  1706.  The  Governor,  after 
pouring  contempt  upon  the  new  arrival,  withdrew 
with  his  council  and  chaplain  into  the  fort,  leaving 
Ziegenbalg  and  his  companion  alone  in  the  market- 
square.  The  sun  had  set,  the  streets  were  dark,  the 
strangers  knew  not  which  way  to  turn,  but  watched 
and  waited  under  the  silent  stars — ^the  first  Protes- 
tant missionaries  to  stand  on  Indian  soil. 

Another  early  missionary,  whose  name  still  per- 
vades the  Tamil  country  like  a  perfume,  was 
Christian  Friedrich  Schwartz  (1726-1797).  For  over 
fifty  years  without  return  to  Europe,  he  went  in  and 
out  among  the  people,  visiting  palace  and  hut  alike, 
comforting  dying  soldiers,  acting  as  envoy  to 
Haider  Ali  or  as  the  trusted  advisor  of  the  Raja  of 
Tan j  ore.  He  found  time  to  teach  in  a  day-school 
and  prepare  people  for  baptism  even  when  occupy- 
ing the  most  influential  public  post.  There  was  a 
simple  goodness,  an  unmistakable  purity,  a  capacity 
for  friendship  about  his  life  that  won  thousands  to 
Jesus  Christ. 

Modern  Protestant  missions  in  India  date  from 
1793  when  William  Carey  landed  in  Calcutta.  It 
would  surprise  some  present-day  enthusiasts  for 
social  and  economic  betterment  to  survey  the  pro- 


ii8  Building  with  India 

gram  of  this  leader  of  Serampore's  great  trio — 
Carey,  Marshman,  aiid  Ward.  He  believed  that 
every  Indian  needed  individual  salvation  from  sin 
and  a  deep  and  personal  Christian  experience.  This 
conviction  took  him  to  India  and  gave  dynamic  force 
to  all  his  service  there.  His  great  work  in  Bible 
translation,  publication,  preaching,  and  teaching 
demonstrate  this.  But  few  personalities  in  history 
can  surpass  this  one-time  cobbler  as  a  powerful  cen- 
ter from  which  issued  streams  of  social  influence, 
also.  Over  a  hundred  years  ago  Carey  was  studying 
the  natural  history  of  India,  laying  out  experimental 
gardens,  importing  all  sorts  of  vegetable,  flower,  and 
fruit  seeds,  introducing  scythes,  sickles,  plow-wheels, 
and  other  conveniences,  advocating  good  cattle,  and 
founding  "The  Agricultural  and  Horticultural  So- 
ciety in  India."  He  manufactured  indigo,  made 
printing  type,  devised  new  methods  of  paper  manu- 
facture, started  the  first  newspaper,  and  erected 
the  first  steam-engine  in  India.  Such  was  the  breadth 
of  conception  of  the  Christian  task  of  one  who  could 
write  to  his  son  who  had  just  entered  missionary 
service  in  India:  "Should  you,  after  many  years* 
labor,  be  instrumental  in  the  conversion  of  only  one 
soul,  it  would  be  worth  the  work  of  a  whole  life." 

Henry  Martyn,  the  brilliant  Cambridge  student 
who  gave  up  ambitions  of  the  bar  for  love  of  India, 
so  burned  with  compassion  in  prayer  and  effort  "for 
men  that,  when  he  died  at  the  early  age  of  thirty- 
two,  on  his  tombstone  was  placed  the  inscription  in 
four  languages,  "One  who  was  known  in  the  East  as 
a  man  of  God." 

Those  great  hymns  of  the  Church,  "Holy,  Holy, 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  iig 

Holy,  Lord  God  Almighty,"  "The  Son  of  God  Goes 
Forth  to  War,"  and  "From  Greenland's  Icy  Moun- 
tains," were  given  us  by  a  missionary  of  the  Church 
of  England  in  India — Bishop  Reginald  Heber.  There 
was  John  C.  Lowrie  who  landed  in  Calcutta  in  1833. 
Within  a  month  of  his  arrival  he  buried  his  young 
wife,  but  alone  and  undiscouraged  he  pushed  up  the 
Ganges  to  Cawnpore,  and  then  by  palanquin  four 
hundred  miles  overland  to  found  the  first  mission  of 
the  American  Presbyterian  Church  in  India  and  the 
first  Christian  mission  of  the  Punjab.  In  1856 
William  Butler  laid  the  foundation  of  the  great 
American  Methodist  missions  in  India,  through 
which,  before  his  death,  one  hundred  thousand  peo- 
ple accepted  Christ  as  Lord.  Bishop  J.  M.  Thoburn 
gave  more  than  five  decades  to  India  and  left  a 
record  of  masterful  Christian  statesmanship. 

The  Lone  Star  Mission  has  its  story  of  courageous 
faith.  In  1862,  after  twenty-eight  years  of  almost 
fruitless  labor,  an  attempt  was  being  made  for  the 
third  time  to  abandon  it.  It  was  Jewett,  on  fur- 
lough from  the  Baptist  Telugu  Mission,  who  was  im- 
movable, declined  to  be  sent  to  another  field,  and  de- 
clared his  intention  to  go  back  and  live — if  need  be, 
die — among  the  Telugus.  Not  many  years  passed 
until  this  mission  was  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the 
greatest  movements  toward  Christianity  that  India 
has  seen.  Prayer  Meeting  Hill  in  this  mission  em- 
bodies one  secret  of  its  power.  On  this  hill-crest, 
hallowed  by  many  times  of  prayer,  Canadian  and 
American  Baptists  were  gathered  together  on  one 
occasion,  and  the  caste  people  looking  up  from  be- 
low exclaimed,  "Their  God  is  hovering  over  them. 


120  Building  with  India 

Our  opposition  is  useless.  They  are  bound  to  con- 
quer." 

Often  the  cost  has  been  great.  Graves  of  brave 
wives  and  little  children  tell  a  story  of  the  climate's 
toll.  The  heartache  of  separation  between  parent 
and  child,  and  the  heroism  of  homeless  student  days 
are  keenly  felt,  but  there  is  an  urge  that  sends  them 
on.  Mary  Reed  has  stimulated  thousands  to  prayer 
and  to  greater  consecration.  It  was  in  1891  that 
this  young  American  missionary  suddenly  awak- 
ened to  the  appalling  fact  that  she  had  contracted 
leprosy  while  in  India.  Taking  this  as  a  sign  of 
God's  will  for  her  life,  she  has,  even  to  the  present 
time,  devoted  her  life  to  work  among  the  lepers. 

At  the  heart  of  the  missionary  enterprise  is'  the 
conviction  that  the  greatest  need  of  mankind  is  to 
know  God  and  Jesus  Christ  whom  He  has  sent.  Its 
passionate  yearning  is  that  others  should  have  the 
experience  of  the  priceless  treasure  that  is  in  Him. 
It  is  the  impulsion  to  share  Jesus  Christ  that  above 
all  other  things  leads  to  the  determination,  heroism, 
and  sacrifice  that  characterize  the  Christian  enter- 
prise of  world  friendship.  Two  marked  results  of 
mission  work  in  India;  viz.,  the  mass  movements 
and  the  Indian  Church,  are  treated  in  the  next  two 
chapters.  Here  let  us  look  at  what  missions  have 
accomplished  in  other  lines  and  see  where  mission- 
ary cooperation  is  still  needed. 

II 

An  imposing  amount  of  educational  work  is  car- 
ried on  by  missions  in  India.  There  are  34  colleges 
in  which  one  sixth  of  all  the  college  youth  of  India 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  i2i 

study;  780  secondary  schools  with  94,099  pupils;  91 
industrial  training  institutions  with  5,597  pupils; 
12,173  elementary  and  village  schools  with  462,818 
pupils ;  and  58  kindergartens  with  2,008  pupils.^ 

For  this  educational  work,  the  Christian  West  has 
sent  to  India  throughout  the  years  a  galaxy  of  bril- 
liant leaders.  Imagination  takes  us  back  to  a  quiet 
room  in  St.  Andrews  University,  where  one  who 
later  became  one  of  India's  greatest  educationists 
sat  one  evening  peering  into  the  flickering  embers  of 
his  hearth-fire,  surrounded  by  his  beloved  books.  A 
brilliant  career  lay  before  this  young  Scotch  scholar 
who  had  taken  honors  in  Greek,  Latin,  logic,  and 
natural  philosophy.  His  thoughts,  however,  were 
not  on  himself.  Presently  he  rose  and  knelt  in 
prayer.  Alexander  Duff  was  making  his  decision 
for  India.  Next  morning,  with  new  purpose  in 
his  heart,  he  smiled  at  the  many  rows  of  books,  for 
these  were  friends  which  had  become  part  of  his 
life  and  from  which  India  need  not  separate  him. 
But  alas,  on  a  wild  night,  some  months  later,  his  ves- 
sel, India  bound,  was  wrecked  among  the  rocks  off 
the  South  African  coast.  All  of  his  thousand  books 
were  lost  except  two  wrapped  in  chamois  leather 
which  were  washed  up  on  the  shore — a  quarto  copy 
of  the  Bible  and  a  Scottish  Psalm  Book.  With  un- 
hesitating faith  and  indomitable  energy.  Duff 
pressed  on  to  his  great  work  of  inaugurating  a  new 
type  of  religious  appeal  to  the  intellectual  Brahman 
through  English  education. 

Following  Duff  came  Miller  of  Madras,  Wilson  of 
Bombay,  Ewing  of  Lahore,  and  many  others.    One 

^World  Statistics  of  Christian  Missions,  1916. 


122  Building  with  India 

after  the  other,  Christian  colleges  were  placed  in 
great  centers  such  as  Madras,  Bombay,  Madura, 
Calcutta,  Indore,  Allahabad,  Lucknow,  Agra,  and 
Lahore,  until  now  they  number  thirty-four.  Sys- 
tematic religious  instruction  is  given  daily  in  these 
institutions  to  the  future  leaders.  Many  strict  Hin- 
dus send  their  boys  to  these  colleges  because  of  their 
high  moral  and  religious  atmosphere.  From  these 
student  groups  and  from  those  in  the  high  schools, 
most  of  the  converts  from  the  high  castes  have  come. 
Another  far-reaching  result  is  the  way  in  which  the 
colleges  permeate  the  educated  classes,  otherwise 
difficult  to  reach,  with  a  knowledge  of  Christianity. 
The  first  schools  for  women  in  all  India  were 
started  by  missionaries  in  direct  opposition  to  pub- 
lic sentiment  and  the  teachings  of  India's  religions. 
Their  example  and  attainments  have  been  so  illumi- 
nating and  significant  that  they  have  become  a 
source  of  inspiration  to  India  to  attempt  her  im- 
mense task  of  securing  a  literate  womanhood.  Al- 
though the  majority  of  the  Christian  community  has 
in  general  been  drawn  from  the  depressed  classes, 
the  proportion  of  its  female  population  under  in- 
struction is  five  times  that  for  Hindus  and  eight 
times  that  for  Muhammadans.  An  immense  amount 
of  patient,  steady,  faithful  service  has  gone  into 
this  work,  especially  in  the  boarding-schools  with 
their  unceasing  demands.  Eliza  Agnew  of  the 
American  Board,  who  resolved  to  become  a  mission- 
ary while  studying  geography  in  school,  was  the 
first  unmarried  woman  sent  to  Ceylon.  She  pio- 
neered and  managed  a  school  for  forty-three  years 
without  once  returning  to  America  for  furlough. 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  123 

She  has  been  called  "the  mother  of  a  thousand  chil- 
dren," and  it  is  said  that  every  girl  who  took  a  full 
course  under  her  became  a  Christian. 

The  first  Christian  college  for  women  in  Asia 
came  as  the  result  of  the  quiet,  steady  conviction  of 
Isabella  Thoburn  that  the  women  of  India  should  be 
educated  under  direct  Christian  influence.  The 
work  begun  in  Lucknow  in  1870  in  a  one-roomed 
day-school,  grew  into  a  boarding  and  high  school 
with  large  enrolment  and  widespread  influence. 
College  classes  were  opened  in  1886,  and  in  1919  it 
was  made  a  union  institution,  two  mission  societies 
cooperating.  In  1915  twelve  mission  boards  in  Brit- 
ain, United  States,  and  Canada  united  in  creating 
the  Woman's  Christian  College,  Madras.  Miss 
Eleanor  McDougall,  a  gifted  member  of  the  faculty 
of  London  University,  after  having  refused  a  post 
with  generous  salary  under  the  government  of  In- 
dia, accepted  the  presidency  of  this  institution  so 
full  of  hope  for  the  womanhood  of  south  India.  Two 
professions  especially;  namely,  teaching  and  medi- 
cine, are  urgently  in  need  of  Indian  women  recruits. 
These  two  colleges  are  helping  to  meet  this  need,  as 
well  as  sending  out  workers  for  the  Young  Women's 
Christian  Association  and  the  home.  Wherever  the 
graduates  go,  they  manifest  spiritual  and  intellec- 
tual leadership. 

Even  vaster  than  the  tasks  assumed  by  missions 
in  higher  education  is  their  effort  to  stimulate  pri- 
mary education.  The  average  village  school  is  held 
in  a  mud-walled  building  or  on  the  veranda  of  the 
teacher's  house  or  out  under  the  shade  of  a  tree.  The 
equipment  often  consists  of  nothing  more  than  a 


124  Building  with  India 

table  and  chair  for  the  teacher,  matting  for  the 
pupils,  a  black-board,  registers,  and  clock.  Some- 
times in  order  to  keep  up  the  attendance  it  is  nec- 
essary to  threaten  the  parents  with  the  removal  of 
even  this  meager  equipment.  Not  half  of  the  twenty 
pupils  may  possess  a  book,  for  the  parents  are  not 
able  to  purchase  one.  A  few  fortunate  urchins  have 
a  slate,  but  the  slate-pencil  may  be  not  more  than 
one  inch  long.  It  is  on  the  mud  floors  of  such  village 
schools  that  the  educational  battle  is  to  be  lost  or 
won  in  India.  There  are  over  12,000  of  these  ele- 
mentary and  village  mission  schools  to  which  almost 
half  a  million  pupils  come.  It  may  be  truly  said, 
therefore,  that  Christian  education  has  left  its  mark 
on  the  whole  development  of  education  in  India. 
Throughout  modern  times  it  has  been  an  important 
factor,  and  its  contribution  has  been  recognized  by 
Government. 

Missions  must  not  relax  their  educational  efforts 
in  this  hour  of  India's  greatest  need.  She  is  the 
largest  country  thus  far  to  be  launched  on  a  serious 
definite,  progressive  plan  for  responsible  self-gov- 
ernment. She  is  in  the  midst  of  the  experiment — 
and  experiment  it  is,  for  her  divisions  of  race,  caste, 
religion,  and  language  are  wider  and  deeper  than 
those  of  any  other  land.  Only  eighteen  millions  out 
of  her  three  hundred  and  seventeen  millions  can 
read,  and  the  present  electorate  includes  only  six 
millions.  From  the  standpoint  of  nationalism,  edu- 
cation manifestly  is  one  of  India's  greatest  needs. 

But  from  the  standpoint  of  the  Kingdom,  Chris- 
tian education  is  of  central  importance.  If  India 
is  to  become  a  life-center  through  which  God  can 


o 


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•-  o 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  125 

express  Himself  in  creative  ways,  Christian  leader- 
ship and  a  Christian  society  are  primary  essentials. 
Both  of  these  necessitate  the  Christian  school. 
Through  it  Christians  are  trained  to  take  their 
places  as  leaders  with  the  Christian  ideal  in  the 
political,  social,  and  moral  betterment  of  India. 
Upon  it  largely  rests  the  development  of  an  educated 
Christian  Church  able  to  support  the  Christian 
cause  by  its  money  and  efforts.  It  is  not  surprising, 
therefore,  that  from  one  third  to  one  half  of  all 
money  spent  on  missions  goes  to  education  of  one 
kind  or  another. 

One  of  the  most  difficult  and  pressing  questions 
which  Indian  missions  are  now  facing  is  raised  by 
the  agitation  for  a  "conscience  clause"  in  our  mis- 
sion schools.  According  to  a  policy  begun  in  1854, 
a  large  proportion  of  our  schools  receive  a  consider- 
able part  of  their  expenses  from  government  grants- 
in-aid.  Hindus  are  beginning  to  claim  that  since 
these  grants  come  out  of  public  taxes,  their  children 
should  not  be  compelled  to  listen  to  Christian  teach- 
ing. The  demand  is  clearly  associated  with  the 
growth  of  the  national  movement,  and  it  is  a  seri- 
ous thing  for  missions  to  be  thought  to  be  antagonis- 
tic to  this  national  spirit.  In  general,  missionaries 
admit  that  this  claim  is  just  in  single-school  areas 
where  the  parents  have  no  option  except  to  send 
their  children  to  a  school  where  Christianity  is  reg- 
ularly taught.  In  such  cases,  mission  managers  as  a 
rule  agree  that  if  objection  to  religious  instruction 
is  conscientiously  made  by  parents,  they  should 
either  allow  such  exception  or  give  up  their  grants- 
in-aid.     But  the  general  consensus  of  missionary 


126  Building  with  India 

opinion  thus  far  does  not  favor  the  "conscience 
clause"  when  the  parent  has  a  choice  of  school  or 
college. 

The  question  is  entirely  too  complicated  to  discuss 
in  full  here.  Only  an  indication  of  the  variety  of 
factors  in  the  problem  can  be  given.  On  the  one 
side  it  is  claimed  that  Government  does  not  depart 
from  its  policy  of  religious  neutrality  in  giving 
grants  to  mission  schools,  for  grants  are  also  given 
to  schools  where  Hinduism  and  Muhammadanism 
are  taught,  and  that  therefore  there  ic  no  moral  diffi- 
culty involved ;  that  the  demand  does  not  come  from 
the  parents,  but  from  the  anti-Christian  agitators 
who  would  bring  pressure  to  bear  upon  those  who 
really  have  no  desire  to  withdraw  their  children 
from  Christian  instruction ;  and  that  mission  educa- 
tion aims  at  bringing  all  pupils  into  contact  with 
varied  sources  of  quickening  power  and  that  it 
would  stultify  us  to  treat  the  witness  to  Jesus  Christ 
as  optional  when  we  regard  it  as  the  very  essence  of 
the  service  these  schools  seek  to  render  to  the  youth 
of  India. 

Other  missionaries  urge  that  Americans  would 
not  agree  that  taxes  should  go  to  schools  in  which  a 
particular  religion  is  inculcated;  that  since  educa- 
tion has  been  turned  over  to  Indian  control,  Indians 
will  very  likely  compel  the  acceptance  of  a  con- 
science clause  anyway  as  a  condition  of  receiving 
grants,  and  that  it  would  therefore  be  better  to  yield 
before  an  embittered  struggle  develops ;  that  the  ac- 
tual Bible  teaching  would  reach  a  higher  level  if  the 
hearing  were  not  demanded  through  compulsory 
attendance;  and  that  the  whole  conception  of  com- 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  127 

pulsory  teaching  of  the  faith  of  Jesus  Christ  is  un- 
wise since  religion  is  something  to  be  caught,  not 
taught — a  friendship  and  way  of  life  rather  than 
primarily  a  set  of  dogmas. 

A  second  great  problem  for  our  missionary  edu- 
cators in  India  is  to  determine  the  place  of  Chris- 
tian education  in  a  rapidly  growing  state  system. 
Conditions  are  changing,  and  missions  retain  no 
longer  the  unique  position  of  pioneering.  The 
spread  of  public  education  must  inevitably  diminish 
the  relative  share  of  the  educational  burden  borne 
by  missionary  effort,  even  though  the  actual  num- 
ber of  missionary  schools  and  the  enrolment  in 
these  should  markedly  increase.  Does  this  mean 
that  Christian  education  is  not  to  retain  a  vital  and 
even  an  increasing  influence  in  the  development  of 
India? 

The  answer  is  given  in  the  life  of  Pastor  Santiagu. 
Fifty  years  ago  he  was  a  small  boy  in  one  of 
India's  illiterate,  poverty-stricken,  outcaste  vil- 
lages. His  home  was  a  thatched  mud-hovel  amid 
people  despised  as  carrion  eaters — ^the  off-scouring 
of  India's  caste  system.  From  such  a  background, 
Santiagu  went  to  a  village  school.  He  was  selected 
for  further  training  in  a  boarding-school  where  he 
lived  under  the  earnest  care  of  the  missionary.  Then 
came  a  partial  college  course,  followed  by  theologi- 
cal seminary — each  step  upward  in  a  mission  insti- 
tution. 

Years  later  there  came  a  time  when  the  mission- 
ary in  charge  had  to  leave  Battalagundu  near  Ma- 
dura.   There  were  five  churches  and  over  twenty 


i2»  Building  with  India 

congregations  besides  nineteen  schools  served  by 
thirty-five  Indian  workers.  Santiagu  was  chosen  to 
superintend  this  work.  When  the  evangelistic  cam- 
paign was  on  a  few  years  ago,  Santiagu  was  set 
apart  from  his  important  pastorate  to  pass  from  one 
town  to  another,  organizing  the  evangelistic  bands, 
training  the  leaders,  outlining  the  policy,  and  every- 
where inspiring  the  workers  to  a  new  earnestness. 

Furthermore,  he  was  recognized  by  non-Chris- 
tians as  the  greatest  force  for  righteousness  in  his 
town.  The  people,  though  largely  Brahman,  elected 
him  mayor  of  the  town  because  they  considered  him 
the  leader  of  the  practical  affairs  of  the  district. 
Even  India's  exclusive  high-caste  groups  see  that 
Christian  education  has  just  this  faith  and  power — 
to  take  men  from  the  mire  and  in  one  lifetime  fit 
them  for  spiritual  and  community  service.  A  de- 
christianized  national  education  can  never  make 
this  peculiar  and  highly  desirable  contribution  to 
the  life  of  India. 

Such  a  life  is  an  illustration  of  the  vital  contribu- 
tion Christian  education  can  make  to  India  and  an 
evidence  that  it  can  produce  a  more  dynamic  person- 
ality, a  finer,  higher  type  of  character  than  any 
other  kind.  What  else  could  be  true  since  in  Christ 
we  find  our  way  to  God  and  realize  God's  way  to  us, 
and  in  Him,  moreover,  we  find  the  highest  manifes- 
tation of  the  character  and  nature  and  power  of  our 
Father.  The  Christian  Church  can  no  longer  com- 
pete in  quantity  of  education  provided,  but  it  should 
bend  every  energy  and  use  every  resource  to  insure 
that  the  Christian  quality  of  education  is  set  on  a 
hill  in  India.    The  opportunity  to  leave  an  inefface- 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  129 

able  mark  on  the  education  of  India  now  lies,  not  in 
numbers,  but  in  a  type. 

Frankly,  this  will  not  be  adequately  accomplished 
unless  we  give  much  more  support  to  our  schools. 
Missionary  educators  are  asking  for  recruits  who 
will  bring  to  bear  upon  their  task  all  that  is  best  in 
modern  educational  theory  and  practice.  They  are 
asking  for  more  adequate  staffs  so  that  our  schools 
may  be  more  pervasively  Christian.  They  are  call- 
ing for  teachers  with  spiritual  aims  broad  enough  to 
recognize  and  serve  the  needs  of  family,  community, 
vocational,  church,  and  national  life. 

In  the  training  of  teachers  to  impart  this  Chris- 
tian type  of  education  with  its  emphasis  on  the  for- 
mation of  character,  faith  in  the  accessible  and 
available  resources  of  God,  initiative  for  community 
welfare,  and  a  true  and  wholesome  outlook  on  life  is 
found  our  greatest  opportunity  to  help  India  educa- 
tionally. In  training  women  teachers,  especially,  a 
surpassing  service  can  be  rendered.  India  will  have 
to  starve  educationally,  and  continue  to  struggle  on 
with  its  overwhelming  problem  of  illiteracy,  with 
only  men  teachers  in  the  village  schools,  until  chiv- 
alry is  developed  toward  women  who  do  not  live 
under  the  protection  of  zenanas.  But  it  is  easier 
for  Christian  women  to  break  over  binding  conven- 
tions than  for  Hindu  and  Muhammadan  women.  Al- 
ready some  girls  are  being  trained  as  teachers  in 
the  normal  classes  added  to  high  schools  or  even  to 
grammar  schools.  It  is  clear,  however,  that  the 
relatively  small  efforts  being  made  at  present  should 
be  greatly  increased.  Non-Christian  schools  and 
government  schools,  as  well  as  our  own  mission 


130  Building  with  India 

schools,  are  eager  to  secure  trained  teachers.  The 
Christian  teacher — and  especially  the  Christian 
woman  teacher  in  India — has  a  place  of  great  in- 
fluence. Why  should  not  the  Christian  friends  of 
the  West  have  the  initiative  to  place  one  or  more 
well-equipped  women's  training  schools  in  every 
province?  Such  schools  afford  a  great  opportunity 
for  union  effort. 

We  may  well  ask  ourselves  whether  we  have  the 
faith  and  vision  to  be  India's  helper  at  this  point  of 
sore  need.  Are  we  raising  up  in  our  homes  children 
who  have  a  vital,  living,  expectant  experience  of 
God?  Do  they  know  the  springs  of  character  and 
of  personality?  Are  they  themselves  on  fire  for  the 
triumph  of  Christ's  spirit  in  every  personal  and 
social  relationship?  Are  some  of  them  mastering 
the  profession  of  education  ?  From  such  young  peo- 
ple must  come  those  through  whom  we  are  to  make 
our  educational  contribution  to  the  Orient. 

Ill 

Face  to  face  with  India's  poverty,  missionaries 
have  inevitably  addressed  themselves  to  the  task  of 
making  possible  a  fuller,  more  abundant  life 
through  economic  betterment.  Modern  missionaries 
do  not  feel  that  they  can  escape  the  battle  with 
the  human  needs  of  India  any  more  than  could 
William  Carey.  In  justification  of  his  efforts  to  bet- 
ter the  welfare  of  India's  peasantry,  he  said,  "Few 
who  are  extensively  acquainted  with  human  life,  will 
esteem  these  cares  either  unworthy  of  religion  or 
incongruous  with  its  highest  enjoyment." 

The  experiments  being  made  are  manifold.     In 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  131 

the  Telugu  area  one  missionary  has  started  a  dairy 
farm,  imported  a  cream  separator,  demonstrated 
the  value  of  scientific  feeding,  and  turned  the  farm 
over  to  an  Indian  Christian.  Another,  in  western 
India,  has  improved  the  Indian  loom  so  that,  while 
still  reparable  by  the  village  carpenter,  the  people 
can  turn  out  fifty  per  cent  more  cloth.  Another,  in 
the  United  Provinces,  has  procured  for  his  garden 
high  quality  mango  trees  from  which  grafts  are 
sold  to  Christians — one  of  his  attempts  to  provide 
subsidiary  industries.  Much  has  been  accomplished 
through  the  advocacy  of  the  use  of  silos,  the  prac- 
tice of  trenching,  and  seed  selection. 

Lace-making,  introduced  into  Ireland  during  the 
potato  famine  and  now  indigenous,  has  been  started 
by  missionary  women  in  various  parts  of  India, 
bringing  with  it  the  necessity  for  cleaner  hands, 
cleaner  dresses,  and  cleaner  houses.  In  Ceylon  one 
mission  has  arranged  for  marriage  clothes  and 
jewels  that  can  be  rented.  In  Tinnevelly  a  higher 
rate  of  marriage  fee  is  charged  by  the  officiating  pas- 
tor if  the  parents  have  indulged  in  the  luxury  of  a 
band.  At  Ahmednagar  a  church  coffin  may  be  bor- 
rowed by  the  poor.  The  attempt  is  thus  made  to 
help  the  people  to  help  themselves  and  so  increase 
their  ability  to  support  their  families,  their  schools, 
and  their  churches. 

In  many  centers  the  Christians  are  so  poor  that 
missions  formally  recognize  that  no  lasting  spiritual 
progress  can  be  made  without  taking  the  economic 
conditions  into  account.  At  the  Baptist  Telugu 
Conference  (1919),  it  was  resolved  that  there 
should  be  established  a  Bureau  for  inquiring  into 


132  Building  with  India 

the  economic  welfare  of  their  people,  and  reporting 
constructive  measures  of  relief  to  Government. 
The  American  Board's  mission  at  Madura  has  a 
permanent  standing  Committee  on  Economic  Wel- 
fare, whose  chairman  is  the  professor  of  economics 
in  the  mission  college  at  Madura.  The  body  coor- 
dinating all  missions  in  India  has  a  Committee  on 
Industrial  and  Agricultural  Work.  The  program  of 
this  committee  includes  the  preparation  of  memo- 
randa on  such  questions  as  the  relation  of  the  educa- 
tional, moral,  and  religious  aim  to  economic  necessi- 
ties; the  place  of  cooperative  credit  societies  for 
missions  dealing  with  rural  problems;  how  to  in- 
augurate and  develop  such  societies ;  how  to  conduct 
an  economic  survey;  reports  on  economic  surveys 
already  made;  information  concerning  govern- 
ment literature  on  industry  and  agriculture;  re- 
ports of  successful  experiments  made  in  connection 
with  special  problems;  and  the  problem  of  urban 
employment  and  the  need  of  hostels  in  this  connec- 
tion. 

When  one  stops  theorizing  and  tries  to  help  a  peo- 
ple under  actual  conditions  of  life,  an  indomitable 
faith  has  to  be  added  to  creative  ability.  It  would 
seem  easy  to  introduce  chicken  raising.  But  it  will 
be  found  that  chickens  are  easily  stolen,  that  petty 
officials  on  tour  unlawfully  demand  them  without 
pay,  or  if  they  are  to  be  profitable,  an  old  woman 
must  be  found  too  weak  to  "do  coolie,"  but  strong 
enough  to  look  after  chickens.  Women  are  kept 
busy  grinding  grain  and  pounding  rice — work  that 
could  be  done  cooperatively  for  the  whole  village  by 
a  machine;  but  the  men  would  then  complain  that 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  133 

their  women  had  nothing  to  do.  It  would  seem  very- 
practical  to  add  the  fly  shuttle  to  the  village  looms. 
But  just  the  twenty-eight  inches  required  to  catch 
the  shuttle  would  necessitate  rebuilding  all  the 
weavers*  huts  of  the  district. 

One  can  easily  secure  a  plow  that  will  turn  a  deeper 
furrow  than  the  century-old  Indian  variety,  but 
how  would  you  answer  the  farmer  who  complains 
that  the  new  model  is  too  heavy  to  bring  home  on  his 
shoulder  at  night,  and  that  it  cannot  be  repaired  by 
the  village  blacksmith?  He  will  very  likely  com- 
plain that  it  requires  the  use  of  both  hands  to  guide 
it,  that  an  extra  pair  of  oxen  must  be  yoked  up  to 
pull  it,  or  that  the  initial  cost  is  prohibitive.  By  no 
means  least  important  is  the  fact  that  an  imported 
model  is  too  long  for  him  to  reach  forward  and 
guide  the  oxen  by  means  of  twisting  their  tails.  All 
these  difficulties  were  taken  into  consideration  by 
D.  W.  Griffen,  an  American  missionary,  who  had 
specialized  in  agricultural  tools  and  machinery  in 
the  United  States,  and  who  in  his  work  at  the  Alla- 
habad Agricultural  Institute  set  himself  to  the  task 
of  adapting  Indian  implements  to  the  needs  of  better 
farming.  After  persistent  experimentation  extend- 
ing into  thirty  different  models,  he  evolved  one 
which  is  light,  cheap,  easily  repaired  and  which, 
while  going  only  about  four  inches  deep,  has  a  cut- 
ting edge,  digs  a  square  furrow,  turns  the  sod  over, 
and  stays  in  the  ground  without  effort — ^none  of 
which  the  Indian  plow  does.  This  new  model  is 
known  all  over  India  as  the  Scindia  plow.  A  gen- 
eral principle  is  well  illustrated  here.  The  first  step 
upward  is  not  in  the  introduction  of  our  advanced 


134  Building  with  India 

types  of  machinery,  but  the  invention  of  pumps, 
barrows,  and  other  machinery  just  a  step  beyond 
India's  present  stage. 

It  is  possible  to  coach  some  of  the  Christian  ten- 
ant farmers  in  gardening  so  that  the  monetary  value 
of  the  yield  is  greatly  increased.  But  it  upsets  all 
calculations  to  have  the  rent  go  up,  as  actually  did 
occur  in  a  given  case,  from  Rs.  8  to  Rs.  12  the  second 
year,  and  to  Rs.  16  the  third  year.  Something  more 
has  to  be  done  so  that  the  landlord  will  not  absorb 
all  the  gain  of  better  methods.  It  may  be  possible 
to  get  a  little  land  upon  which  Christians  can  be  set- 
tled, but  even  if  it  is  not  soon  alienated  to  non-Chris- 
tians, what  of  the  insatiable  land  hunger  created  in 
hundreds  of  homes  by  the  few  who  have  been 
placed?  So  disastrous  in  certain  places  has  been 
the  effect  on  the  spiritual  work  of  placing  a  limited 
number  of  Christians  on  land,  that  some  mission- 
aries say  they  will  never  again  attempt  it.  An  indus- 
trial school  may  be  started,  but  it  was  found  in  one 
center  that  twenty-five  out  of  thirty  pupils  after 
leaving  school  did  not  pursue  the  handicrafts 
learned.  A  missionary  endeavoring  to  establish  a  co- 
operative credit  society  in  some  village  has  had  all 
but  the  last  form  filled  up  and  signed  when  the  sus- 
picion of  the  people  reasserted  itself,  and  the  project 
was  blocked  until  they  could  be  put  in  the  right 
humor  again. 

I  shall  never  forget  the  series  of  persistent  efforts 
which  the  head  of  a  Converts'  Home  made  before 
practical  and  profitable  industries  could  be  discov- 
lered.  It  seemed  natural  to  suppose  that  a  widow 
\who  had  been  accustomed  in  her  Hindu  home  to 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  135 

earn  money  by  hammering  metal  links  together  into 
a  neck  chain,  should  continue  such  work.  But,  to 
the  disappointment  of  the  superintendent,  it  was 
found  that,  as  she  had  become  a  Christian,  none  of 
her  former  employers  would  give  her  work.  A 
sewing-machine  was  bought  for  making  jackets  and 
other  clothing.  But  the  Muhammadan  tailors  could 
work  better  and  more  cheaply,  and  so  this  industry 
did  not  last  long.  Friends  in  Calcutta,  six  miles 
away,  urged  them  to  make  good,  plain  cakes.  Regu- 
lar orders  came  in,  and  there  seemed  hope  for  a 
profit.  But  the  women  were  not  clever,  they  did 
not  understand  whether  the  cakes  were  "heavy"  or 
"light,"  as  they  never  eat  such  things,  so  that  some- 
times a  whole  batch  was  spoiled  in  the  making,  and 
thus  the  profit  was  nothing. 

Lace-making  was  introduced,  as  there  was  known 
to  be  a  great  demand  for  good  lace ;  but  the  women's 
fingers  were  clumsy,  they  could  only  make  a  few 
inches  a  day,  and  hence  could  not  compete  with  those 
who  had  nimble  fingers.  Fine  drawn-thread  work 
and  handkerchief -making  were  tried;  but  these 
once-Hindu  women  had  never  used  their  eyes  for 
any  close  work,  not  even  reading ;  consequently  their 
eyes  gave  them  much  trouble,  and  they  frequently 
had  to  be  taken  to  the  eye  hospital  for  spectacles 
and  treatment.  An  added  difficulty  lay  in  the  char- 
acter of  the  women.  For  they  were  not  naturally 
industrious  and  sometimes  feigned  or  exaggerated 
sickness  in  order  to  avoid  work. 

Successful  industries,  however,  were  at  last  found. 
By  a  happy  thought  they  began  to  make  mango  chut- 
ney for. export  to  England,  and  ever  since  it  was 


136  Building  with  India 

first  tried,  this  has  continued  to  be  a  paying  indus- 
try. To  this  was  added  the  making  of  jams  and  of 
curry  powder.  For  guava  jelly,  orange  marma- 
lade, and  Cape  gooseberry  jam,  a  good  sale  was 
found  in  the  neighborhood  of  Calcutta. 

At  the  suggestion  of  their  gatekeeper,  they  began 
to  make  Mirzapur  carpets.  The  work  was  easy  and 
mechanical,  so  that  the  women  and  children  learned 
it  quickly  and  were  able  to  produce  handsome  rugs. 
In  order  to  save  on  the  price  of  wool,  they  set  about 
learning  how  to  dye  wool,  so  that  now  they  can  buy 
wool  off  the  backs  of  sheep  and  make  it  up  into 
beautiful  rugs.  Needlework  and  the  making  of 
necklaces  from  seeds  were  successfully  introduced 
for  those  who  could  do  this  work. 

In  such  ways  missions  are  patiently  and  steadily 
working  at  the  problems  of  India's  uplift,  which,  to 
one  without  Christian  faith,  might  at  first  seem 
baffling  and  overwhelming.  Missionaries  are  show- 
ing that  the  Oriental  mind  is  not  inscrutable,  that  it 
is  capable  of  adopting  change,  and  that  intelligence 
with  administrative  ability  can  secure  progress. 
Above  air,  they  are"  demonstrating  anew  that  the 
spirit  of  Christ  makes  people  free  and  impels  them 
to  work  their  way  out  of  degrading  conditions. 

IV 

India's  great  need  for  medical  and  sanitary  as- 
sistance has,  from  the  first,  enlisted  mission  effort. 
Today  in  over  five  hundred  centers,  mission  doctors 
and  nurses  in  hospital  or  dispensary  show  forth  the 
love  of  Christ.  Pain  is  relieved,  the  sick  are  healed, 
the  lepers  cared  for.    Every  cure  is  an  object  les- 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  137 

son.  When  a  Christian  village  is  inoculated  for 
plague  so  that  death  passes  by  on  either  side  leav- 
ing this  village  immune,  a  blow  is  given  to  ingrained 
fatalism.  When  death-rates  are  manifestly  lowered, 
a  more  optimistic  faith  begins  to  take  the  place  of 
pessimism.  It  will  be  long  before  government  efforts 
will  overtake  the  widespread  needs  in  this  field; 
hence  the  help  of  missions  is  still  urgentlyjieiiUJuced--- 

In  Chapter  Two  we  saw  some  of  the  physical 
handicaps  of  India.  To  illustrate  still  further  the 
urgent  need  of  medical  missions,  let  us  look  with 
some  detail  at  conditions  surrounding  Indian  moth-  j 
erhood.^  One  out  of  every  seventy  women  die  in  i 
childbirth  in  India.  The  appalling  mortality  of 
mothers  and  infants  is  mentioned  in  almost  every 
health  officer's  report.  Back  of  the  high  mortality 
at  this  time  are  various  preventable  causes.  There 
is  the  widespread  belief  that  a  woman  at  the  time 
of  childbirth  is  ceremonially  unclean,  more  defiling 
than  the  lowest  outcastes.  This  belief  determines 
many  of  the  conditions.  It  becomes  manifestly  ab- 
surd to  use  anything  clean,  and  so  the  oldest,  filthi- 
est rags  are  often  hoarded  for  this  occasion.  The 
dai,  one  of  India's  untrained  hereditary  midwives, 
when  summoned,  will  put  off  the  ordinary,  none  too 
clean  dress  and  put  on  soiled  clothes  which  likely 
have  not  been  washed  since  the  previous  case.  For 
the  same  reason,  the  room  used  must  be  one  that 
other  members  of  the  household  do  not  need  to  use, 
and  in  practice  it  is  a  hovel  outside.  In  some  parts 
of  India  the  girl's  mother  may  enter  the  room,  pro- 
vided she  undergoes  certain  ceremonial  cleansing 

^Cf.  Lankester,  Arthur,  M.  D.,  Tuberculosis  in  India. 


138  Building  with  India 

afterwards,  but  in  the  majority  of  cases  the  mother's 
presence  is  forbidden. 

Another  injurious  belief  is  that  fresh  air  is 
dangerous  both  for  mother  and  child.  It  is  firmly- 
held  that  puerperal  fever  comes  from  exposure  or 
chill,  and  hence  great  care  is  taken  to  exclude  fresh 
air.  Even  in  hot  weather  the  door  and  window — if 
there  be  one — will  be  tightly  shut,  every  opening 
closed  with  old  clothes,  and  a  charcoal  fire  placed 
inside,  still  further  vitiating  the  air. 

The  need  of  reform  in  native  midwifery  is  un- 
questioned by  those  who  know  the  facts.  Unclean 
in  habits,  careless  in  work,  often  callous  to  suffer- 
ing, bold  in  treatment  with  courage  born  of  crass  ig- 
norance, the  midwife  brings  untold  mischief  to  her 
patients.  Under  the  present  conditions,  the  profes- 
sion is  limited  to  women  of  the  lowest  class.  Fur- 
thermore, there  is  an  hereditary  system  by  which  a 
given  dai  deems  it  to  be  her  right  to  look  after  a 
limited  group  of  families,  and  this  rules  out  compe- 
tition. 

The  patient  is  usually  left  unbathed  for  from  six 
to  thirteen  days.  During  this  time  her  diet  is  re- 
stricted, milk  in  any  form  being  forbidden.  At 
such  a  time  water  is  given  most  sparingly.  There 
are  thousands  of  children  blind  today  in  India  whose 
eyesight  would  have  been  saved  had  there  been  pres- 
ent at  birth  someone  who  knew  the  importance  of 
carefully  cleansing  the  eyes  of  the  new-born  infant 
and  thus  preserving  it  from  a  common  form  of  se- 
vere ophthalmia. 

Now  it  should  be  remembered  that  these  things 
are  done  not  to  torture  the  young  mother,  but  with 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  139 

the  sincere  belief  that  they  will  minister  to  her  best 
good  and  to  that  of  the  child.  The  people  do  try  to 
take  precautions,  as  when  the  leaves  of  the  akh  are 
thrown  on  the  house  at  childbirth  to  keep  away  evil 
spirits.  But  their  measures  are  not  scientific.  This 
is  all  the  greater  reason  why  we  should  share  the 
modern  knowledge  that  we  have.  Especially  is  there 
a  call  today  in  India  for  the  relief  of  the  sufferings 
of  women  and  of  the  terrible  wastage  of  infant 
life.  "Ah,"  said  a  Hindu  woman,  "your  God  must  be 
a  very  good  God  to  send  a  doctor  to  the  women. 
None  of  our  gods  ever  sent  us  a  doctor."  A  change 
is  bound  to  come  eventually,  but  the  opportunity  of 
immensely  accelerating  the  progress  is  ours  today. 
Why  not  use  India's  conditions  of  health  as  a  test 
case  for  ourselves?  "If  anyone  has  this  world's 
wealth  and  sees  that  his  fellow  man  is  in  need,  and 
yet  hardens  his  heart  against  him — how  can  such 
a  one  continue  to  love  God?" 

John  Scudder,  while  still  a  physician  in  New 
York,  met  this  test  when,  as  the  result  of  reading  a 
pamphlet  lent  him  by  a  patient,  he  made  the  decision 
that  led  him  to  go  to  India  in  1820  as  the  first  Ameri- 
can medical  missionary.  Later  he  gave  seven  sons 
and  ten  grandchildren  to  missionary  work.  Clara 
Swain  did  not  harden  her  heart  when  in  1869  she 
went  out  as  the  first  woman  medical  missionary  to 
India.  The  test  was  met  by  Margaret  MacKellar 
who,  in  order  to  serve  India's  sick  and  plague 
stricken  people,  left  her  post  in  the  millinery  depart- 
ment of  a  store,  and,  though  twenty-two  years  of 
age,  took  her  seat  in  school  with  boys  and  girls  in  the 
eighth  grade  in  order  to  begin  again  her  education. 


140  Building  with  India 

Later  came  a  medical  course  in  Queens  University, 
Canada,  postgraduate  work  in  London,  and  years 
later,  in  1911,  the  honor  of  being  the  first  woman  to 
receive  the  Kaisar-i-Hind  medal  for  distinguished 
service  to  India. 

Pennell  of  the  Afghan  frontier^  went  out  to  In- 
dia in  1892,  under  the  Church  Missionary  Society. 
I  love  to  recall  his  tall,  handsome  figure  clothed  so 
like  a  frontiersman  that  many  would  not  detect  his 
foreign  birth.  One  day  amid  the  frowning  preci- 
pices and  towering  ranges  of  the  Himalayas,  two  Af- 
ghan mountaineers,  hidden  by  tangled  masses  of  un- 
dergrowth, awaited  in  ambush  their  enemy,  Chikki 
(the  Lifter) ,  a  desperate  freebooter  chieftain  whose 
mountain  fortress  was  at  the  head  of  a  great,  wild, 
gorge  near  by.  Each  man  fondled  a  beautiful  mau- 
ser  rifle  fitted  with  modern  sighting  apparatus.  Sud- 
denly a  cavalcade  of  twenty  horsemen  emerged  from 
a  distant  wood  and  cantered  up  the  mountain  road. 
Both  rifles  were  raised  and  covered  the  figure  riding 
at  the  head,  a  well-knit  man  in  Afghan  costume  and 
with  tanned  and  bearded  face.  Their  fingers  had 
almost  pulled  the  triggers  when  one  knocked  up  his 
companion's  gun  and  whispered,  "Hold,  brother,  it 
is  the  Doctor  Sahib,  Pennell  of  Bannu.  He  rides  on 
the  business  of  Allah." 

Illness  had  broken  out  in  Chikki's  household,  and 
hence  Pennell  had  been  summoned  to  this  wild  out- 
law's mountain  fortress.  After  ministering  to  the 
need,  although  he  knew  the  cruel  treachery  of  his 


*Dr.  Pennell's  life  story  Among  the  Wild  Tribes  of  the 
Frontier  is  full  of  interest  and  incident.  A  Hero  of  the 
Afghan  Frontier  is  written  especially  for  boys. 


J3 

o 

C8 


S  *^ 

O  IS 
o  * 


us 


J3 

o 


Q. 
O. 

P 

CO 


2    ^ 

O       4) 


be 

"So 
-a 


bfl  o 

:;3  o 
a. 

l| 
"I 

c4 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  141 

host,  and  although  Chikki's  fanatical  Mullah 
(priest)  was  present,  Pennell  said,  "I  want  to  tell 
you  of  the  message  it  is  my  glory  to  proclaim."  And 
then  he  laid  a  Pashtu  translation  of  the  Gospels  be- 
fore the  Chief,  and,  turning  to  the  fifth  chapter  of 
the  Gospel  of  Matthew,  read  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount  and  spoke  of  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  as  the 
Friend  and  Savior  of  mankind. 

For  over  twenty  years,  on  innumerable  tours, 
with  absolute  fearlessness,  this  heroic  servant  of 
Jesus  Christ  lived  out  the  spirit  of  his  Master.  We 
are  told  that  in  one  year  Dr.  Pennell  passed  no 
fewer  than  34,000  cases  through  his  hospital,  over 
8,000  patients  were  visited  in  their  homes,  and  there 
were  over  3,000  operations — all  with  a  staff  of  four 
men  and  one  woman.  When  Pennell  lay  dying  from 
enteric,  the  entire  Afghan  borderland  was  stirred 
with  the  news,  and  people  gathered  from  every 
quarter.  One  had  been  found  by  the  doctor  on  the 
wayside,  nearly  killed  by  a  vicious  horse  and  help- 
less with  a  broken  shoulder.  Others  had  come 
through  Pennell's  school  and  had  taken  part 
in  some  famous  cricket  or  football  match  into  which 
he  had  tried  to  put  the  best  ideals  of  British  school- 
boy life.  All  loved  him,  for  his  life  had  been  lived 
for  them. 

In  less  spectacular,  but  no  less  heroic  ways,  four 
hundred  trained  men  and  women  in  mission  service 
are  ministering  to  India's  medical  need.  Increas- 
ingly the  work  is  not  merely  remedial,  but  preven- 
tive, removing  the  causes.  In  many  a  center  busy 
doctors  pressed  with  work  are  finding  time  to  train 
nurses  and  assistants  who  go  forth  to  meet  the  needs 


142  Building  with  India 

of  their  own  people.  At  certain  mission  centers 
formal  medical  education  is  available.  One  such 
center  is  the  Women's  Union  Medical  Missionary 
School  at  Vellore  in  south  India,  to  which  six  mis- 
sion boards  contribute.  The  graduates  of  such 
schools  have  no  easy  path  before  them  for  they  go 
forth  to  battle  with  superstition,  ignorance,  and  dis- 
trust. However,  when  once  they  win  a  position  of 
confidence,  these  Christian  women  doctors  are  able 
to  serve  India  as  no  foreign  women  can  do.  From 
such  will  come  the  leaders  of  movements  for  better 
food,  the  better  care  of  babies,  and  better  sanita- 
tion. This  training  of  leaders,  whether  among  the 
men  or  women,  affords  a  fascinating  and  far-reach- 
ing opportunity.  By  all  such  practical  modern 
methods  Christian  missions  are  further  demonstrat- 
ing Christ's  valuation  of  the  individual  human  life. 

V 

Missionaries  have  unquestionably  been  the  pio- 
Tipprs  nf  sft^'f},]  rpfnrm.  AH  missionaries  are  in  ef- 
f ect  social  workers.  Evidence  of  the  broad  social  re- 
sults of  Christian  influence  was  given  in  Chapter 
Three.  We  may  confidently  assert  that  the  teach- 
ing, efforts,  and  example  coming  forth  from  Christ 
started  the  streams  of  social  activity  flowing  in  In- 
dia, and  we  rejoice  that  these  movements  are  be- 
coming indigenous  and  gaining  in  strength  and 
volume  daily. 

It  is  very  striking  that  so  many  Indians  con- 
sciously recognize  that  the  adventure  of  social  ser- 
vice as  it  crosses  every  barrier  is  distinctly  Christian 
and  comes  specifically  out  of  Christian  principles. 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  143 

A  passing  traveler  was  talking  with  one  of 
India's  leaders  of  thought  and  action — a  Hindu — 
who  was  describing  the  way  his  friends  were  work- 
ing among  outcaste  people,  taking  them  by  the  hand 
and  breaking  bread  with  them.  "I  suppose  such 
conduct  is  enjoined  upon  you  by  the  Hindu  scrip- 
tures," the  traveler  remarked.  "The  whole  of  such 
influence,  as  a  practical  matter,"  replied  the  leader, 
"comes  to  us  from  the  West;  and  moreover,  if  it 
could  be  conceived  that  we  were  to  be  separated 
from  contact  with  these  Western  influences,  that 
tendency  among  us  would  soon  disappear." 

Our  task  requires  diversity  of  operation.  Our 
message  is  partly  expressed  when  it  is  stated ;  it  is 
completed  only  when  it  is  exemplified,  lived,  and  ap- 
plied. Hence  missionaries  must  continue  the  propa- 
ganda of  deed  as  a  means  of  instilling  the  mean- 
ing of  the  gospel  into  the  minds  and  hearts  of  the 
world.  Social  problems  bristle  on  every  hand.  Chris- 
tian missions  already  unhesitatingly  use  the  evangel- 
ist, the  teacher,  the  doctor.  Missions  of  the  future 
will  undoubtedly  use  trained  social  workers  to  study 
the  local  territory,  to  map  it  out  objectively,  to 
make  its  human  problems  clear  and  interesting,  and 
in  general  to  be  a  source  of  encouragement  to  all  the 
other  members  of  the  mission  staif  in  the  direction 
of  such  interests.  It  is  significant,  for  example,  that 
the  British  Board  of  Study  for  the  Preparation  of 
Missionaries  has  recently  circulated  a  pamphlet  urg- 
ing the  need  for  further  training  in  moral  hygiene 
for  all  women  missionaries,  and  that  in  a  north 
India  textile  factory,  a  young  man  and  his  wife  have 
been  detailed  by  their  mission  (at  factory  expense) 


144  Building  with  India 

to  go  as  welfare  workers  among  the  Indian  opera- 
tives, living  within  the  factory  confines. 

VI 

The  ultimate  aim  of  missions  is  to  develop  a 
world-wide  society  of  Christlike  individuals.  Their 
program  is  to  teach  men  and  women  and  little  chil- 
dren the  love  of  God  and  His  purpose  for  their 
lives  as  revealed  in  Jesus  Christ ;  to  bring  them  into 
a  loving,  saving  touch  with  Him;  to  incarnate  His 
life  and  spirit  in  all  personal  and  social  relation- 
ships ;  and  to  develop  a  native  leadership  which  shall 
be  committed  to  the  Kingdom.  In  giving  help  where 
the  need  is  greatest,  the  Christian  West  finds  its 
most  effective  opportunity  for  witnessing  to  the 
Christ.  If  we  can  comprehend  India's  deepest  needs 
and  most  urgent  problems  and  can  make  a  substan- 
tial contribution  to  their  solution,  we  shall  be  demon- 
strating most  clearly  Christ's  power  to  inspire  ser- 
vice and  to  transform  life. 

In  sending  out  missionaries  to  India  or  to  any 
other  land,  however,  we  must  by  no  means  think 
that  upon  us  lies  primary  responsibility  for  complet- 
ing the  work.  Our  aim  is  not  so  much  to  get  things 
done  as  to  help  people  grow.  This  does  not  result 
from  mere  teaching,  in  the  sense  of  telling  others 
what  is  worth  doing  and  how  to  do  it.  Along  with 
this  there  must  be  emphasis  on  self -initiated  activ- 
ity. To  do  everything  for  anyone  is  only  to  insure 
one  thing — ^that  you  will  have  to  continue  thus  do- 
ing. Since  our  object  is  to  develop  Christians  who 
will  act  on  their  own  initiative,  it  has  been  the  task 
of  the  wise  missionary  to  find  ways  of  calling  forth 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  145 

this  power  and  developing  it.  It  is  growth  through 
action  that  counts.  Even  at  the  expense  of  tempo- 
rary failure  must  the  rising  churches  initiate  for 
themselves.  People  there,  as  well  as  here,  are  most 
interested  in  what  they  themselves  have  planned 
and  for  which  they  have  worked  and  sacrificed. 

This  procedure  is  all  the  more  necessary  because 
the  new  spirit  of  Indian  nationalism  has  been  devel- 
oping in  Indian  Christian  leaders  a  marked  restless- 
ness under  foreign  ecclesiastical  and  administrative 
authority.  When  in  the  political  realm  attention 
is  concentrated  on  securing  more  self  government, 
it  has  been  almost  inevitable  that  foreign  author- 
ity in  church  and  mission  matters  should  lead  to  sen- 
sitive relationships.  A  Christian  nationalist  wants 
the  Indian  Church  to  be  open  to  Indian  currents  of 
thought  and  life.  At  an  informal  conference  of 
Indian  Christians  at  Allahabad  in  1919,  it  was  de- 
clared that  "the  Church  must  be  given  an  oppor- 
tunity to  develop  itself  on  its  own  lines,  keeping  in 
contact  with  the  national  currents.  This  can  be  ac- 
complished only  by  allowing  the  Indian  Church  it- 
self to  lay  down  the  policy  and  be  responsible  for  its 
actual  carrying  out,  European  man-power,  wherever 
needed,  being  subordinated  to  the  Indian  organi- 
zation that  may  be  evolved  for  this  purpose." 

It  comes  about,  therefore,  that  one  of  the  most 
difficult  and  pressing  problems  in  Indian  missions  is 
the  satisfactory  transfer  of  powers  and  responsi- 
bilities from  the  strong  foreign  missions  to  the  rela- 
tively poor  and  weak  Indian  churches.  There  is 
a  widespread  movement  on  the  part  of  missions  to 
turn  over  more  and  more  responsibility  to  the  In- 


146  Building  with  India 

dian  Church,  and  some  of  the  best  minds  on  the  mis- 
sion field  are  bending  their  energies  toward  this  end. 
But  there  is  often  on  the  part  of  Indians  impatience 
at  the  slow  rate  at  which  this  devolution  is  taking 
place.  Capable,  educated  Christian  Indians  believe 
that  they  could  manage  a  great  deal  more  than  that 
with  which  they  are  at  present  intrusted.  They 
point  out  that  in  the  political  realm,  power  and  au- 
thority are  devolving  to  the  people.  In  like  manner, 
in  their  opinion,  more  Indian  participation  in  the 
work  now  carried  on  by  missions  should  in  some 
way  be  arranged.  Few  questions  facing  Christian 
statesmanship  in  Indian  missions  are  more  urgent 
than  the  adjustment  of  relations  between  the  Indian 
Church  and  foreign  missions,  and  between  the  In- 
dian worker  and  the  European  worker. 

Very  significant  of  the  times  was  the  discussion  of 
the  relations  of  church  and  mission  at  the  meeting 
of  the  International  Missionary  Council  held  in  Oc- 
tober, 1921,  at  Lake  Mohonk.  It  was  agreed  that  a 
primary  aim  of  missions  is  the  establishment  of  an 
indigenous  Church,  and  that  this  aim  implies  the  de- 
velopment of  responsibility  and  leadership  in  this 
Church.  They  recognized  that  only  as  this  leader- 
ship and  direction  of  the  Christian  movement  passes 
into  native  hands  can  it  avoid  the  disadvantage  of 
having  a  foreign  character  in  the  eyes  of  the  people. 
Hence,  various  questions  were  seriously  proposed: 
whether  missionaries  should  not  begin  to  serve  un- 
der the  direction  of  the  authorities  of  the  native 
Church;  whether  the  churches  of  a  given  country 
should  be  consulted  with  regard  to  the  number  and 
qualifications  of  the  missionaries  required  by  them; 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  147 

whether  the  expenditure  of  funds  from  abroad  and 
the  program  of  work  should  be  discussed  more 
largely  than  at  present  by  nationals  and  foreigners 
meeting  together.  Still  more  significant  were  the 
resolutions  passed  by  the  National  Missionary 
Council  at  Poona  in  January,  1922.  Heretofore  the 
National  Missionary  Council  as  well  as  the  various 
Provincial  Councils  of  Missions  have  been  in  the 
main  representative  of  the  mission  organizations  in 
India.  It  became  the  unanimous  view  of  the  Council 
that  these  bodies  should  become  more  representative 
of  the  Indian  Church.  It  was,  therefore,  recom- 
mended that  constitutional  changes  be  made  insur- 
ing that  at  least  half  the  delegates  to  each  of  these 
bodies  be  Indian  representatives  and  that  the  name 
be  changed  to  the  National  Christian  Council  of 
India,  Burma,  and  Ceylon.  The  whole  question  of 
transferring  responsibility  to  the  indigenous  Church 
is  engaging  the  earnest  attention  of  our  missionaries 
abroad  and  of  our  boards  at  home,  and  a  consider- 
able advance  in  this  direction  has  been  made  in  re- 
cent years.  We  must  all  be  prepared  to  carry  out 
into  every  sphere  of  planning  and  administration 
the  logical  results  of  the  centric,  revolutionary  fact 
that  the  indigenous  Church  is  the  most  efficient  ele- 
ment in  the  expansion  of  Christianity. 

The  awakened  consciousness  of  nationality  is  the 
most  powerful  force  fo  b6  rfiCkuiiyd  VVlLTl  lUllhy. 
There  is  danger  that,  in  the  reaction  against  foreign 
domination.  Western  ideals,  and  Western  methods, 
India  may  reject  the  faith  that  comes  to  her  through 
the  medium  of  the  West.  Already  many  Indian 
patriots  are  questioning  whether  the  religion  of 


148  Building  with  India 

Christ  is  their  ally,  or  whether  it  is  something  for- 
eign to  the  genius  and  needs  of  India.  The  impor- 
tance of  the  answer  to  this  question  at  this  crisis  in 
India's  history  needs  no  demonstration.  For  if  the 
national  spirit  should  array  itself  against  missions, 
opposition  would  become  almost  invincible.  As 
never  before,  therefore,  missionaries  are  welcoming 
Indian  initiative,  are  turning  over  blocks  of  work  to 
their  control,  and  are  earnestly  attempting  to  dis- 
tinguish between  their  essential  message — ^the  eter- 
nal truth  and  life  as  found  in  Christ — and  the  par- 
ticular forms  and  expressions  which  have  grown  up 
in  the  West.  Indian  Christianity  must  inevitably 
express  itself  in  forms  of  thought  and  worship  dif- 
ferent from  our  own.  Our  task  will  be  not  fully 
done  until  the  transformation  into  the  people's 
own  thought-forms  has  been  completed.  There 
is  a  vast  difference  in  attitude  between  an  attempt 
to  pass  on  the  best  we  have,  and  an  effort  to  develop 
in  India  the  best  of  which  she  is  capable. 

One  may  legitimately  ask  why  it  is  that  with  so 
much  of  consecration,  so  many  lives  poured  forth, 
so  many  years  of  effort,  and  such  prayer,  the  results 
have  not  been  vastly  greater.  Why  is  it  that  India, 
among  all  countries,  has  proved  to  be  one  of  the 
most  difficult  mission  fields?  In  a  large  measure 
this  is  true  because  of  the  religious  nature  of  India's 
people.  Old  beliefs  and  customs  have  been  rooted 
in  the  ancient  faith  of  Hinduism.  The  warp  and 
woof  of  society  have  been  woven  out  of  the  religious 
teachings  of  their  sacred  scriptures,  so  that  we  are 
dealing  with  a  people  who  are  entrenched  in  a  re- 
ligious system  to  which  their  hearts  cling  with  fer- 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  149 

vor.  Christianity  takes  mortal  issue  with  these 
Brahmanical  practices  and  teachings.  Like  our- 
selves too  the  Indians  are  creatures  of  habit.  It  is 
hard  to  get  them  to  give  attention  to  an  alien  faith. 

But  a  deeper  reason  which  grows  more  acute 
every  day  is  that  they  are  watching  Western  Chris- 
tian civilization.  Such  reports  and  reflections  as 
come  through  cable,  cinema,  travelers,  and  students, 
do  not  always  tally  with  the  missionary  message. 
Many  Indians  will  acknowledge  Christianity's  high 
ideals,  but  see  little  use  in  adjusting  themselves  to  a 
religion  that  has  come  so  short  in  lands  where  it  is 
professed.  We  may  as  well  realize  that  it  is  not 
alone  what  missionaries  declare  Christianity  to  be, 
but  what  so-called  Christians  are  in  practice,  that 
actually  determines  the  Indian's  attitude  to  Christ. 
Travelers  see  our  cities;  students  come  to  our  uni- 
versities; cables  bear  each  day  to  hundreds  of  Ori- 
ental newspapers  the  facts  of  our  partially  Chris- 
tian civilization.  If,  then,  any  reader  finds  it 
difficult  to  discover  a  way  to  help  India  to  her  best, 
let  him  set  about  making  a  stronger  Christian  pro- 
test to  the  unchristian  forces  in  our  own  social  and 
political  life.  If  the  Christian  Church  of  the  West 
were  unitedly  reacting  against  the  evils  of  our  own 
civilization  vigorously  enough  for  its  protest  to  be 
heard  with  certainty  in  India,  then — perhaps  only 
then — would  it  be  a  Church  that  could  evangelize 
India. 

Part  of  the  reason  why  India  does  not  accept 
Christ  is  that  Christianity  has  been  associated  with 
a  foreign  government,  and  has  come  to  her  in  a 
foreign  dress  with  foreign  organizations,  to  such  an 


150  Building  with  India 

I  extent  that  hosts  of  non-Christians  think  that  they 
'  would  be  denationalized  if  they  identified  themselves 
with  the  Church.  Our  denominational  rivalries,  our 
emphasis  on  doctrinal  differences,  and  a  naive  in- 
sistence upon  our  Western  forms  and  rituals  all  tend 
to  obscure  the  Christ. 

VII 

With  so  many  ways  in  which  we  can  assist  our 
world  partner,  and  with  a  missionary  body  of  five 
and  a  half  thousand  to  be  maintained  in  India  by 
Western  Churches,  we  may  well  ask  what  kind  of 
missionaries  are  needed  and  acceptable. 

It  would  be  ideal  if  every  mission  could  have  in 
it  men  and  women  capable  of  making  different  types 
of  contributions.  Educationists  are  needed  to 
wrestle  with  educational  problems  of  the  first  mag- 
nitude. The  education  of  rural  India  can  be  no  mere 
copy  of  anything  in  the  West,  and  for  the  solution 
of  its  problems  the  best  educational  background 
that  our  teachers*  colleges  can  give  is  none  too  good. 
Men  and  women  are  needed  who  have  specialized  in 
religious  education  and  are  able  to  set  up  curricula 
of  religious  instruction  for  Sunday  and  day-schools. 
Scholars  and  theologians  are  needed  with  whom  In- 
dian thinkers  can  work  out  intellectual  formulations 
congenial  to  India  in  symbols  and  forms  of  expres- 
sion. Men  with  the  administrative  and  executive 
gift  are  needed  to  help  think  out  the  adjustments 
that  must  be  made  between  the  missions  and  the 
rising  churches,  and  to  bring  the  experience  of  the 
West  to  bear  upon  the  Indian  Church  as  it  shapes 
itself.    Evangelists,  doctors,  social  welfare  workers, 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  151 

agriculturists,  business  agents,  secretaries,  writers, 
heads  of  hostels,  personal  workers,  specialists  for 
the  educated  classes  or  for  Muhammadans,  are  all 
needed.  Almost  any  talent  that  can  be  used  at 
home  will  be  welcomed  in  India — provided  it  be  real 
talent  worthily  trained  and  there  is  behind  it  the 
right  spirit. 

An  applicant  incapable  of  sympathetic  interest 
in  India's  present-day  aspirations  may  as  well  with- 
draw his  papers.  A  candidate  who  would  prefer  to 
retain  a  monopoly  of  all  mistake-making  had  better 
yield  to  one  who  can  stand  by  while  the  Indian 
learns  by  trying.  In  other  words,  Indians  are  be- 
ginning to  ask  us  to  give  up  the  cult  of  efficiency  for 
a  willingness  to  see  things  less  well  done  for  a  time 
while  they  learn.  Just  now,  partial  failure  by  anV 
Indian  may  help  the  Kingdom  more  than  greater! 
success  by  an  Englishman  or  American.  While  In-  \ 
dian  Christians  are  almost  filial  in  the  grateful  love  * 
manifested  to  the  older  missionaries  who  have  fa- 
thered their  church,  they  do  not  want  the  young  re- 
cruit to  assume  a  parental  relationship.  India 
wants  men  and  women  who  will  be  as  conscious  of 
their  relation  to  the  Church  in  India  as  to  the  society 
that  sent  them  out;  who  will  take  joy  in  identifying 
themselves  with  the  Church  of  India  and  will  in  self- 
restraining  ways  help  it  to  fulfil  its  mission  to  the 
nation. 

Naturally  it  will  not  always  be  easy  to  conform  to 
these  demands  of  awakened  nationalism.  But  In- 
dians are  beginning  to  say  that  on  these  conditions 
alone  shall  we  continue  to  be  welcome.  Opportunity 
for  acceptable  and  fruitful  service  is  not  likely  to 


152  Building  with  India 

open  up  to  the  one  who  assumes  that  he  is  inherently 
superior  to  the  races  of  India.  One  must  guard 
one's  self,  therefore,  against  a  host  of  insidious  sug- 
gestions of  superiority  which  hitherto  have  sur- 
rounded a  Westerner  in  India.  Of  necessity  he  has 
lived  in  a  better  house,  he  has  traveled  in  a  higher 
class  on  the  railways,  often  policemen  saluted  as  he 
drove  by,  and  simple  country  people  would  show 
deference  to  any  foreigner.  It  is  possible  to  go  out 
to  India  with  a  most  democratic  temperament,  but 
slowly  and  all  unconsciously  take  on  the  habit  and 
demeanor  of  superiority.  The  mood  and  temper  of 
a  ruling  class  tend  to  be  assumed  by  each  member 
of  the  ruling  race.  But  now  as  never  before  the  ac- 
ceptable missionary  must  be  characterized  by  the 
mind  of  Christ,  who  emptied  Himself  and  took  on 
the  form  of  a  servant.  A  combination  of  able  Chris- 
tian statesmanship  with  great  self-abnegation  is 
what  is  needed. 

In  these  days  especially,  when  interracial  sensi- 
tiveness, suspicion,  and  even  bitterness  are  common, 
men  and  women  are  needed  who  have  a  genius  for 
friendship,  for  getting  on  with  others,  for  drawing 
out  their  best  qualities,  and  for  creating  a  friendly 
atmosphere.  The  Master  had  a  simple,  natural  atti- 
tude of  brotherly  equality.  This  was  no  mere 
theory  with  Him,  but  the  attitude  and  feeling  which 
spontaneously  came  forth  from  One  who  wanted  to 
call  each  person — ^not  servant,  but  friend.  Let  us 
learn  of  Him. 

Our  ambassadors  will  be  eager  to  study  Indian 
ways  of  life  as  well  as  the  Indian  language.  The 
feeling  of  strangeness  toward  things  Indian  should 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  153 

be  taken  away  by  systematic  training.  With  cer- 
tain groups,  we  shall  wish  to  sit  cross-legged  on  the 
floor  and  eat  with  our  fingers  as  our  hosts  do.  For- 
tunate beyond  comparison  is  the  young  missionary 
who  can  stay  for  a  while  in  some  Indian  Christian 
home  which  has  not  lost  its  Indian  traditions.  In 
some  way  Indian  etiquette,  Indian  manners  and 
forms  should  become  natural.  And  when  we  set 
about  sharing  the  life  of  India,  we  shall  remember 
that  the  submerged  sixth  among  whom  much  mis- 
sion work  is  done  is  not  the  best  interpreter  of  In- 
dia's culture. 

After  absorbing  something  of  the  best  in  India's 
heritage,  the  true  ambassador  will  help  to  incorpo- 
rate into  the  Christian  tradition  all  of  this  that  is 
worthy.  He  will  aim  to  help  his  Christian  friends 
to  appreciate  justly  the  elements  of  moral  and 
spiritual  worth  in  their  national  heritage.  For  all 
things  Eastern  are  not  heathen  any  more  than  all 
things  Western  are  Christian.  Just  as  Western 
Christianity  has  taken  over  and  rebaptized  many  a 
custom  once  called  heathen,  such  as  the  Christmas 
tree,  the  use  of  candles,  certain  aspects  of  Easter,  so 
must  we  sublimate  many  a  custom  found  in  India. 
Suppose  yourself  there  for  a  moment  and  decide 
what  you  would  do  if  you  found  that  Indian  women 
in  your  district  were  in  the  habit  of  taking  their 
new  clothes  to  the  temple  to  have  them  blessed  be- 
fore wearing.  Would  you  be  inclined  to  adopt  the 
custom  in  your  church?  If  you  saw  that  the  farm- 
ers about  you  called  in  a  priest  and  offered  up  a  fowl 
in  order  to  secure  a  blessing  upon  the  sowing,  would 
you  encourage  the  Indian  Church  to  announce  at 


154  Building  with  India 

certain  seasons  that  any  who  would  be  planting  the 
coming  week  might  stay  and  have  special  prayer 
offered  for  them?  Both  these  things  have  been  done 
by  the  only  Indian  Bishop  yet  appointed. 

Knowing  that  the  universal  custom  in  India  is  to 
have  a  "go-between"  to  arrange  for  marriage,  in- 
asmuch as  the  boy  and  girl  do  not  see  each  other 
until  the  marriage  day,  would  you  encourage  Chris- 
tians to  use  the  old  non-Christian  agents  or  adopt 
our  Western  plan  of  courtship  or  have  deaconesses 
formally  appointed  to  take  over  this  function,  or 
would  you  just  let  things  drift?  Do  you  see  any  pos- 
sibilities in  the  fact  that  when  a  Muhammadan  baby 
is  born  the  mother  will  not  feed  it  until  some  Mu- 
hammadan man  has  said  the  Kalima  (Creed  of  Is- 
lam) in  its  ear?  The  first  words  it  hears  must  be 
the  most  sacred  ones  of  Islam. 

Suppose  you  observe  that  in  non-Christian  mar- 
riages the  bride  and  groom  walk  around  a  bamboo 
pole  at  a  certain  stage  of  the  ceremony.  Will  the 
substitution  of  a  cross  for  the  bamboo  be  a  proper 
step  in  adaptation,  or  will  this  only  stereotype  the 
lower  associations  of  the  former  system  and  tighten 
the  chain  of  superstition? 

One  of  the  most  picturesque  festivals  in  India  is 
Devali,  when  tiny  lights  are  used  to  outline  public 
buildings  and  often  the  homes  of  people.  The  chil- 
dren love  the  attractive  display  of  these  little  Orien- 
tal lamps  with  their  wicks  of  cotton  in  coconut  oil. 
Will  you  preach  on  Christ  as  the  light  of  the  world, 
ask  them  to  "let  their  light  so  shine,"  interpret  the 
festival  as  a  triumph  of  light  over  darkness,  and 
thus  take  it  over  into  Christianity?  Or  will  you  shun 


Cooperation  of  the  Christian  West  155 

its  very  touch  and  keep  the  children  from  its  charm, 
knowing  that  unbridled  gambling  is  associated  witW' 
this  night,  and  that  it  really  betokens  Vishnu's  tri^ 
umph  over  demons?  Those  whom  we  send  out  to 
India  to  advise  the  Indian  Church  will  be  pushed 
back  upon  all  the  wisdom  they  can  command  and 
all  the  church  history  they  have  read,  in  solving  the 
various  problematic  situations  that  arise. 

Most  important  of  all  is  it  that  the  lives  of  those 
who  are  sent  to  India  should  in  some  way  convey  a 
deep  spiritual  impress.  India,  of  course,  is  changing, 
and  even  now  there  are  many  Indians  who  are  in- 
terested in  efficiency,  in  lowering  death-rates,  in 
economic  uplift,  and  in  the  whole  round  of  things 
which  have  to  do  with  this  world's  betterment.  But 
fundamentally,  India's  yearning  is  for  God.  Activity 
and  even  social  service  will  not  satisfy  India's  hun- 
ger. A  missionary  could  spend  himself  in  organiza- 
tion or  routine  professional  work,  coming  back 
weary  to  his  resting  place,  and  yet  fail  to  touch  the 
heart  of  India.  So  real  must  be  our  spiritual  lives, 
so  steeped  in  prayer,  that  the  Indians  will  catch 
some  glimpse  of  God  through  us.  The  graces  which 
appeal  to  India  are  simplicity,  gentleness,  patience, 
God-centeredness,  a  thorough-going  indifference  to 
things  which  are  not  eternal.  Unless  to  us  the  spiri- 
tual is  extremely  real,  we  may  be  regarded  by  them 
as  competent  organizers,  but  hardly  as  spiritual 
guides  capable  of  meeting  the  deepest  aspirations  of 
India.  Our  representatives  must  maintain  a  spiri- 
tual margin,  difficult  though  this  be  in  their  under- 
manned stations  where  the  pressure  of  work  tends 
to  make  a  man  feel  like  a  mere  center  of  operations. 


156  Building  with  India 

Are  we  willing  to  contemplate  the  possibility  of 
India's  missing  the  Christ?  Can  her  leaders  afford 
to  bring  in  their  New  India  without  Him?  India 
does  have  great  gifts  and  possibilities,  but  she  has 
immense  downward  tendencies  and  conditions  in 
her  heritage.  The  quality  of  her  contribution  to  the 
world  and  indeed  her  very  life  as  a  people  hang  in 
the  balance.  Mere  changes  in  external  circumstances 
will  never  produce  the  New  India  that  we  long 
to  see.  Will  her  leaders  see  in  time  that  Christ  is 
the  most  powerful  possible  means  of  molding  their 
motherland  after  the  noblest  pattern?  India  sadly 
needs  the  freedom  in  social  and  religious  life  that 
Christ  has  ever  imparted  to  His  disciples  of  all  ages 
and  all  countries.  But  it  will  be  Christianity  at  its 
highest  that  will  win  India,  and  this  ought  to  spur 
the  Western  Church  so  to  live  that  from  it  may  go 
forth  commissioned  manifestors  of  God. 


Prayer 

ALMIGHTY  God,  whose  love  reacheth  unto 
the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  who  dost  extend 
to  us  the  matchless  privilege  of  being  co- 
workers with  Thee  for  a  better  world,  we  praise 
Thee  as  the  Source  of  the  zeal  and  devotion  of  those 
who  in  the  past  have  gone  forth  in  their  ministry 
to  India,  and  for  the  fruitage  of  their  labors. 

€[Grant  that  missionaries  now  at  work  in  that  land 
may  be  fitted  by  Thy  grace  for  their  delicate  task. 
Keep  them  fearless  through  love,  and  teachable 
through  true  humility.  When  criticized  and  mis- 
judged, give  them  the  grace  of  forgiveness.  Guide 
and  inspire  them  in  their  varied  service,  and  through 
it  all  may  there  throb  the  one  great  passion  of  re- 
vealing Jesus  Christ,  the  satisfier  of  India's  need. 
May  it  be  their  glory  to  become  least,  to  decrease, 
to  become  the  servants  of  all,  if  only  Christ  may 
have  His  way  in  India. 

CLFill  each  one  with  the  consciousness  of  Thy  sus- 
taining power.  Amid  monotony,  discouragement, 
or  trial,  handicapped  by  limitations  of  time  and 
strength,  in  the  face  of  puzzling  issues  and  stagger- 
ing burdens  draw  them  to  the  Source  of  confidence, 
of  rest,  of  refreshment.  May  they  be  guided  by 
Thee  as  they  attempt  to  build  up  a  living  society 
of  men  and  women,  born  anew  through  faith  in 
Christ,  inspired  by  His  spirit,-  united  in  a  fellowship 
of  love,  and  dedicated  to  the  service  of  their  fellow 
men.     Amen. 


157 


CHAPTER  FIVE 

The  Distinctive  Opportunity  in  India 

We  have  now  come  to  the  most  striking  phenome- 
non in  the  expansion  of  the  Kingdom  in  India — a 
movement  that  has  increasingly  dominated  modern 
mission  thought  and  policy.  In  it,  the  Christian 
Church  of  India  finds  her  greatest  opportunity,  her 
most  pressing  problems,  and  her  most  glorious 
proof  of  power. 

I 

The  greatest  charge  against  Hinduism  is  that  for 
more  than  two  thousand  years  it  has  consigned  a 
sixth  of  India's  people  to  unrelieved  degradation. 
Lower  than  the  lowest  caste,  fifty  million  human  be- 
ings pass  through  this  life  as  "outcastes,"  "untouch- 
ables," "the  depressed  classes."  Religious  philoso- 
phy has  aided  inborn  selfishness  by  interpreting 
their  miserable  condition  as  the  just  and  accurately 
measured  recompense  for  the  misdeeds  of  a  previous 
existence.  As  a  result,  there  is  an  astounding  de- 
gree of  abject  servility  on  the  part  of  the  untouch- 
ables and  of  complacent  superiority  on  the  part  of 
the  higher  castes. 

These  lowcaste  people — Pariahs  and  Panchamas, 
as  they  are  called — are,  for  the  most  part,  of  Dravid- 
ian  stock.  In  religion  they  have  developed  little  be- 
yond their  original  animism.  Belief  in  spirits  satu- 
rates their  thought — spirits  in  trees  and  plants,  in 
animals  and  even  in  human  beings.  Most  of  these 
spirits  are  malignant,  treacherous,  and  fickle,  so 

168 


The  Distinctive  Opportunity  in  India         159 

that  religion  is  summed  up  in  the  attempt  to  pacify 
them.  If  the  churel  calls  at  night  and  you  go  out, 
you  are  sure  to  die.  If  the  water  from  the  cooking 
of  the  food  falls  on  the  fire  so  as  to  put  it  out,  the 
household  is  in  terror  lest  the  children  be  beset  by 
Masan.  Mourners  at  a  funeral  wail  to  drive  off  the 
spirits  of  obstruction.  Perhaps  you  remember, 
when  a  child,  in  the  dusk  of  some  summer  evening 
ducking  your  head  to  dodge  the  bats  which  hovered 
near.  But  that  had  none  of  the  terror  which  char- 
acterizes the  mental  state  of  those  who  constantly 
dread  the  shadowy  presence  of  unknown  forces.  The 
fiercer  the  demon,  the  more  she  is  worshipped,  be- 
cause she  is  feared  the  more.  Take  from  our  wor- 
ship all  adoration  and  thanksgiving,  all  gratitude 
and  love ;  instead  of  a  single  Father  who  has  more  in 
store  for  us  than  we  can  ask  or  think,  put  a  myriad 
of  spirits — one  for  cattle  disease,  one  for  crop  fail- 
ure, one  for  small-pox,  others  for  drought  or  child- 
lessness or  deformity;  seek  from  these  no  spiritual 
blessing,  but  only  relief  from  personal  and  village 
ills  by  outwitting  their  capricious  desires,  and  you 
will  get  some  feeling  of  the  religious  life  of  these 
poor  people. 

Their  idols  are  on  a  par  with  the  people's  poverty 
— ^little  six-inch  blocks  of  wood  or  stone,  with  holes 
gouged  out  for  eyes,  black  with  grease,  oil,  and  the 
smoke  of  many  sacrifices.  What  sadder  sight  in  all 
the  world  than  sons  of  God  living  as  orphans  in 
their  Father's  home! 

Their  disabilities  are  manifold.  They  are  not 
allowed  to  take  water  from  the  village  well,  for  the 
caste  people  hold  that  their  unclean  touch  would 


i6o  Building  with  India 

contaminate  it.  Even  when  a  modern  water-supply 
is  provided  from  public  funds,  you  may  find  an  out- 
caste  quarter  with  a  thousand  people  without  a 
hydrant,  while  near  by  are  abundant  taps  for  caste 
people.  At  a  recent  public  meeting  in  Madras,  one 
of  them  plaintively  asked  why  they  should  be  de- 
barred from  public  wells  and  tanks,  whereas  their 
cattle  and  dogs  were  allowed  the  benefit  of  them. 
Since  water  is  so  scarce,  they  remain  in  their  dirty, 
unwashed  clothes  until  they  are  scarcely  approach- 
able. 

The  disabilities  of  Panchamas  vary  in  different 
areas.  In  some  sections  they  are  supposed  to  clear 
off  the  dead  animals  and  part  of  their  pay  is  the 
flesh  to  eat  as  carrion.  They  live  in  dilapidated 
huts,  often  with  scarcely  enough  food  to  keep  them 
alive.  In  many  places  they  are  excluded  from  pub- 
lic roads,  public  markets,  employment  in  public  of- 
fices, and  public  places  of  worship.  The  post-office 
may  be  in  the  Brahman  quarter — ^they  cannot  ap- 
proach, but  must  wait  for  a  Brahman  to  take  pity. 
They  may  want  to  register  a  deed,  but  find  it  difficult 
to  approach  the  registrar's  veranda. 

In  theory  the  system  of  man-mortgage  is  sup- 
posed to  be  extinct,  but  in  custom  it  is  not.  Recent 
investigations  reveal  much  of  what  amounts  practi- 
cally to  slavery.  Thousands  of  Panchamas  are  still 
binding  themselves  or  their  children  or  both  to  work 
for  the  same  master  for  a  lifetime  in  consideration 
of  a  loan.  A  boy  of  eighteen  wants  Rs.  25  in  cash 
and  some  grain  in  order  to  celebrate  his  wedding. 
He  borrows  it,  undertaking  to  work  for  the  lender 


The  Distinctive  Opportunity  in  India         i6i 

until  the  debt  is  paid,  receiving  day  by  day  a  noon- 
day meal.  Naturally  the  lender  does  not  want  the 
debt  paid.  Because  of  extortionate  interest  or  be- 
cause he  is  enticed  to  take  further  loans,  the  debt 
descends  from  one  generation  to  another.  In  south 
India  these  people  are  known  as  padiyals  and  are 
transferred  with  the  land  when  the  creditor  sells  it 
or  dies.  Even  when  this  rural  slavery  does  not  ex- 
ist, the  outcastes  have  to  work  hard  in  the  fields  all 
day  on  a  small  wage  and  have  no  prospect  of  rising 
to  anjrthing  better. 

In  most  provinces  the  Government  recognizes 
their  right  to  attend  public  schools,  and  they  are 
now  reading  in  hundreds  of  such  schools.  But  this 
path  is  exceedingly  difficult  for  them.  Official  per- 
mission is  a  very  different  thing  from  the  social  per- 
mission of  the  community.  The  caste  people,  not 
wanting  these  people  to  rise,  come  to  the  schools  to 
order  them  out.  The  teachers  fear  social  persecu- 
tion if  they  admit  Panchama  children.  Even  where 
they  are  admitted,  they  are  usually  asked  to  sit 
apart,  are  not  allowed  to  recite,  and  are  ridiculed  so 
that  it  is  very  hard  for  them  to  persist. 

Conditions  such  as  have  been  described  tend  to 
lower  their  standard  of  morality  and  keep  them  sad 
and  depressed.  They  are  so  poor,  weary,  and  heavy 
laden  that  they  have  no  grievances ;  for  among  any 
people  it  is  only  when  the  burden  of  living  is  some- 
what lightened  that  social  unrest  appears.  Thus  the 
faculties  of  a  people  equal  in  number  to  h£  f  the 
population  of  the  United  States  have  been  benumbed. 


i62  Building  with  India 

II 

Imagine  the  surprise  of  these  harassed,  weary, 
fetish-ridden  people  when  into  their  segregated  and 
despised  section  of  the  village  walks  a  man  speak- 
ing of  "good  news,"  telling  them  of  a  Father  who 
loves  them,  assuring  them  that  they  are  brothers  of 
all  men  everywhere,  and  making  this  seem  believ- 
able by  his  own  willingness  to  touch  them,  teach 
them,  believe  in  them.  They  begin  to  awaken  from 
the  lethargy  of  ages  and  feel  out  toward  freedom 
and  the  common  rights  of  humanity. 

Other  forces,  economic  and  social,  help  to  stir 
their  stagnant  minds.  Some  desire  more  food  for 
their  families  and  freedom  from  the  bondage  of 
caste;  some  want  education  for  their  children  and 
an  escape  from  oppression  and  exploitation.  Some 
have  observed  that  the  children  of  Christians  are 
better  clothed  and  better  taught;  that  Christians 
usually  have  a  more  independent  and  consequential 
air;  that  they  are  freed  from  a  number  of  irksome 
restrictions  and  disabilities. 

Some  are  undoubtedly  attracted  by  the  thought  of 
a  single,  pure,  and  holy  God,  and  of  Jesus  Christ 
who  can  free  them  from  the  incessant  and  depress- 
ing fear  of  demons.  In  one  form  or  another  there 
is  the  desire  for  a  more  abundant  life,  for  God's 
spirit  has  many  ways  of  beckoning  to  these  unfor- 
tunate products  of  a  mistaken  religious  system. 
Those  of  us  who  know  what  motives  hastened  the 
nomi  al  conversion  to  Christianity  of  the  peoples  of 
northern  Europe  need  not  draw  aside  from  these 
who,  through  whatever  needs,  hear  the  call  of  the 
Christ.    Discrimination,  however,  must  be  used,  for 


The  Distinctive  Opportunity  in  India         163 

the  "inquirer"  may  revert  and  cause  a  scandal,  or 
his  desire  may  be  merely  to  get  help  in  some  lawsuit 
or  an  adjustment  which  will  work  to  his  advantage. 
There  are  two  distinct  stages  of  conversion  in  In- 
dia. From  all  the  higher  castes  and  communities 
converts  come  as  isolated  individuals  and  hence  are 
cut  off  from  the  customs  of  their  old  communities 
to  a  very  great  extent.  To  declare  allegiance  to 
Jesus  Christ  is,  for  such,  a  very  difficult  step  from 
a  social  standpoint,  and  only  a  few  are  strong 
enough  to  break  away  from  the  bonds  of  caste.  But 
for  the  outcastes,  the  advantages  of  becoming  Chris- 
tians are  so  manifest  that  it  has  been  possible  in 
many  areas,  not  only  to  win  the  leaders,  but  also  a 
large  proportion  of  their  following.  The  pressure 
of  group  solidarity,  so  characteristic  of  the  caste 
spirit  in  India,  may  result  in  the  remainder  also 
coming  over  into  the  Christian  community.  In  some 
cases  this  break  toward  Christianity  comes  within 
a  few  years;  in  others,  missionaries  work  fifteen, 
twenty,  or  thirty  years  before  a  mass  movement  de- 
velops, and  in  many  cases  it  has  not  come  yet.  In 
such  mass  movements,  the  converts  stay  in  their 
own  villages,  do  their  own  work,  live  in  contact  with 
their  old  communities,  and  follow  many  of  their  old 
customs.  They  do  not  feel  cut  off  in  the  same  way 
as  isolated  converts  from  the  higher  castes,  but  the 
very  fact  that  they  came  en  masse  makes  it  more 
probable  that  unchristian  customs  or  modes  of 
thought  will  be  carried  over.  Many  missionaries 
confidently  look  forward  to  a  time  when  converts 
from  the  higher  castes,  as  well,  will  come  in  groups 
instead  of  as  individuals. 


i64  Building  with  India 

The  movement  of  masses  toward  Christianity  in 
its  present  startling  dimensions  began  about  1880. 
There  had  been  a  severe  famine  in  1877-78,  bringing 
terrible  suffering  and  an  appalling  loss  of  life  in 
south  India.  Missionaries  threw  themselves  into 
the  work  of  relief,  and  the  Panchamas  began  more 
or  less  vaguely  to  sense  a  difference  between  the  cen- 
tury-old attitude  of  Hinduism  and  the  new  religion 
of  Christ.  The  experiences  of  this  famine  led  thou- 
sands to  identify  themselves  with  the  new  religion. 

Until  very  recent  years  their  one  hope  was  in 
Christianity.  Sensing  its  sympathy,  they  have 
pressed  forward  by  the  thousand.  Have  you  ever 
watched  a  vine  kept  within  some  darkened  room? 
It  has  no  developed  eyes,  and  yet  it  blindly  senses 
where  the  window  is  and  sends  out  its  feelers  to- 
ward the  light.  In  some  such  way  these  outcastes 
come  to  Christianity.  They  do  not  grasp  its  mean- 
ing or  wholly  understand  the  message,  but  in  their 
groping,  they  discover  that  in  this  direction  light 
and  hope  are  found.  When  for  the  first  time  they 
kneel  to  say,  "Our  Father  who  art  in  Heaven,"  one  is 
witnessing  the  birth  of  a  new  life.  What  limit  of  as- 
cent can  be  placed  on  those  who  begin  to  look  on  God 
as  Father? 

These  movements  toward  Christianity  cannot  be 
manufactured  by  might  or  force.  The  Spirit  of  God 
has  moved  as  the  wind  among  the  masses.  Now  in 
this  part  of  India,  now  in  that,  the  stirring  appears. 
In  the  Telugu  area  it  was  among  the  Madigas 
(leather  workers)  and  the  Malas  (chiefly  agricul- 
tural laborers).  Among  the  Tamils  the  movement 
to  Christianity  was  very  largely  limited  to  the  Sha- 


The  Distinctive  Opportunity  in  India         165 

nans,  whose  business  is  to  draw  toddy  from  the  pal- 
myra trees.  In  Chota  Nagpur  it  was  the  Kols  and 
other  aboriginal  races;  in  Gujerat,  a  weaver  caste; 
in  the  Punjab  and  United  Provinces,  the  Chuhras 
(scavengers)  and  the  Chamars  (leather  workers). 

Very  often  these  movements  toward  Christianity 
have  been  unexpected,  and  usually  they  have  been  so 
overwhelming  in  their  numbers  that  they  have 
found  the  missions  quite  unprepared  to  deal  ade- 
quately with  them.  In  Tinnevelly  in  1802,  Schwartz 
baptized  5,000  in  three  months.  After  the  famine  of 
1877-78,  30,000  in  this  same  region  were  baptized 
by  two  great  English  societies.  In  Travancore,  the 
London  Missionary  Society  reported  17,000  Chris- 
tians in  1857  and  32,000  in  1871.  The  Christians 
in  the  Lutheran  Mission  of  Chota  Nagpur  increased 
in  the  ten  years  after  1861  from  2,000  to  20,000.  In 
the  Baptist  Telugu  area,  Clough  baptized  9,000  in 
one  year,  and  before  he  died  in  1910  there  were 
60,000  church  members  and  200,000  adherents.  The 
story  of  how  Clough,  once  Deputy  United  States 
Surveyor,  became  the  '"Hero  of  Ongole,"  saved 
thousands  of  lives  during  a  famine  by  constructing 
three  miles  of  an  Indian  canal,  and  built  up  the 
largest  church  in  the  world  at  the  close  of  the  nine- 
teenth century  makes  stimulating  reading.  The 
Methodist  Episcopal  Mass  Movement  Commission 
reported  that  in  the  sixteen  years  following  1896 
they  took  in  184,000  Christians,  and  the  present  rate 
of  accession  is  30,000  a  year.  It  is  because  of  these 
remarkable  numbers  that  the  phenomena  have  been 
called  "mass  movements." 

The  most  effective  leaders  in  these  mass  move- 


i66  Building  with  India 

ments  are  not  the  missionaries;  neither  are  they 
Christians  of  the  higher  castes.  Usually  the  break 
has  come  when  some  God-filled  man  from  among 
the  masses  themselves  leads  his  brethren  to  the 
blessing  he  has  found.  Such  was  the  way  the  great 
movement  started  in  the  Church  Missionary  Socie- 
ty's Telugu  area.  Pagolu  Venkayya  had  been  a 
seeker  after  God  for  three  years  before  he  had  an  op- 
portunity of  hearing  the  gospel.  He  had  renounced 
idolatry  and  had  learned  to  pray  without  hearing 
a  Christian  address.  On  the  other  hand,  there  was 
a  missionary  who  had  been  hunting  for  eleven  years 
for  a  receptive  hearer.  He  had  almost  come  to  be- 
lieve that  it  would  never  please  God  to  let  him  see  a 
single  convert  as  a  result  of  his  preaching.  At  last 
he  and  Venkayya  met.  Venkayya  heard,  accepted, 
became  a  believer,  and  was  baptized.  The  whole 
aspect  of  things  changed,  for  the  man  had  been 
found  who  could  interpret  Christianity's  appeal  to 
his  own  people. 

It  was  Bangarapu  Thatiah  who  began  the  move- 
ment in  the  American  Baptist  Mission  resulting  in 
one  of  the  largest  churches  in  the  Telugu  country. 
As  an  outcaste  he  had  consciously  sought  God  ac- 
cording to  his  light.  He  had  been  taught  the  doc- 
trines of  a  reformed  sect  by  an  old  woman,  had 
learned  that  God  is  spirit,  and  had  conceived  in  his 
heart  a  desire  to  know  more  of  Him.  When  at  last 
he  heard  of  Jesus'  way,  he  became  a  great  leader  in 
what  proved  to  be  the  largest  ingathering  of  de- 
pressed classes. 

Henry  Drummond  Williamson  of  the  Church  Mis- 
sionary Society  traveled  for  three  years  among  the 


The  Distinctive  Opportunity  in  India         167 

Gonds  seeking  for  someone  to  accept  the  message-, 
but  he  had  no  converts.  At  last  he  found  a  headman 
of  a  village  who  had  been  seeking  truth  for  years 
and  had  spent  a  whole  year  meditating  under  a 
pipul-tree.  He  carried  about  with  him,  over  his 
shoulder,  a  Hindi  New  Testament  tied  up  in  a  cloth, 
though  afterwards  he  sadly  said  he  could  not  under- 
stand it  all  and  wanted  more  light.  Finally,  this 
man  braved  baptism  before  all  his  village,  became  a 
zealous  preacher,  and  the  leader  of  the  movement 
among  the  Gonds. 

Sometimes  the  leader  is  not  of  thousands,  but  of 
tens.  A  certain  lowcaste  boy  seemed  absolutely  un- 
able to  learn  in  school.  It  seemed  that  he  could  not 
remember.  He  was  tried  another  year,  but  finally 
had  to  be  sent  back  to  his  village.  About  a  year  later 
the  missionary  in  charge  was  called  to  that  village 
to  baptize  eighteen  people.  This  boy  had  started  a 
night  school  and  had  taught  them  all  he  knew  about 
Christ  and  anything  else  he  could  remember.  Again 
the  next  year  a  call  came  to  baptize  another  group 
as  the  result  of  his  work. 

Ill 
When  missions,  many  times  wofully  understaffed 
as  regards  teachers  and  preachers,  work  for  such 
great  numbers,  the  immediate  transformation 
effected  is  often  slight.  But  when  an5i;hing  like  ade- 
quate instruction  and  Christian  nurture  are  pro- 
vided, the  results  are  inspiring  and  convincing.  Cer- 
tain results  are  visible  on  the  surface.  A  countenance 
through  which  shine  Christian  hope  and  freedom 
is  very  different  from  one  from  which  fear  has 


i68  Building  with  India 

never  been  exorcised.  There  is  a  distinct  enlighten- 
ing of  the  face  from  education.  Even  by  a  careless 
observer,  the  house  of  a  Christian  of  some  year's 
standing  can  be  distinguished  by  the  greater  clean- 
liness and  order  from  the  abode  of  his  non-Christian 
neighbor  of  the  same  class. 

One  of  the  most  satisfying  experiences  life  can 
bring  to  a  master-builder  is  to  be  allowed  to  remain 
twenty  years  in  one  of  these  mass  movement  dis- 
tricts, founding  churches,  establishing  schools,  be- 
lieving implicitly  in  the  possibilities  of  all  men  when 
touched  by  the  Spirit  of  God,  drawing  out  the  trea- 
sures hidden  in  their  repressed  natures,  and  encour- 
aging the  people  in  every  way.  The  change  in  in- 
telligence, ambition,  and  character  throughout  the 
area  is  a  wonderful  reward.  In  making  a  tour 
through  India  one  is  struck  with  what  time  and  up- 
lifting influences  can  do;  for  the  Christians  in  the 
older  mass  movements  of  the  south  are  more  ad- 
vanced than  those  in  the  north  in  education,  knowl- 
edge of  Christian  truth,  and  in  the  sense  of  responsi- 
bility for  maintaining  the  work.  When  the  decades 
have  had  their  work  under  steady  Christian  influ- 
ence, as  in  Tinnevelly  or  in  the  London  Missionary 
Society's  area  in  Travancore,  one  can  but  be  im- 
pressed with  the  substantial  character  of  the  prog- 
ress in  every  way. 

Everywhere  there  is  a  gain  in  self-respect.  One 
day  a  district  superintendent  of  police  was  asking  a 
certain  missionary  why  the  people  had  become 
Christians.  It  was  suggested  that  he  let  them  an- 
swer his  question,  and  so  he  went  over  to  a  group  of 
Christians.    "What  did  you  gain  by  becoming  Chris- 


The  Distinctive  Opportunity  in  India         169 

tians?"  "Ability  to  stand  before  you  without  being 
ashamed,"  was  the  self-respecting  answer.  With  a 
changed  estimate  of  himself,  it  is  no  wonder  that  all 
over  India  the  outcaste  who  becomes  a  Christian  is 
given  a  new  standing  by  Hindus  and  Muhamma- 
dans.  He  ceases  to  be  "untouchable."  To  raise 
these  millions  to  a  position  of  honor,  self-respect, 
and  service  for  the  country  is  to  attack  Hinduism  at 
its  most  vulnerable  point.  For  Hinduism's  last  cita- 
del is  its  social  structure  with  its  caste  usages  and 
laws. 

Away  off  in  France  a  Christian  sweeper  from  the 
Punjab  was  serving  in  a  regiment.  Every  morning 
at  five  he  rose  to  read  his  Bible  and  chant  his  psalms. 
He  was  faithful.  A  Muhammadan  in  the  regiment 
acknowledged  that,  if  there  were  anyone  among 
them  who  knew  God,  it  was  this  sweeper.  Sometimes 
a  single  center  sends  forth  a  group  of  this  stamp. 
There  is,  near  Fatehghar,  a  village  called  Elephant's 
House,  where  there  was  once  a  Christian  commu- 
nity of  three  hundred  and  fifty  people.  Now  only  six 
families  are  left,  for  by  actual  count,  from  this  hum- 
ble outcaste  quarter  have  come  forth  four  preachers, 
fifteen  teachers,  thirty  house-servants  for  Euro- 
peans, and  two  men  who  register  the  practice  shots 
of  soldiers.  This  does  not  pretend  to  be  a  typical 
case,  but  it  shows  what  can  be  done  under  favorable 
circumstances. 

In  every  area  where  these  Panchamas  have  come 
en  masse  to  Christianity,  they  have  seen  men  and 
women  of  their  own  number  growing  in  worth,  ris- 
ing in  the  social  scale,  and  gaining  a  better  life.  They 
have  seen  their  children  learning  to  read ;  some  have 


170  Building  with  India 

gone  on  to  high  school  and  even  through  college.  A 
few  have  obtained  good  posts  under  Government 
and  many  have  become  clerks,  telegraphers,  teach- 
ers, catechists,  or  ordained  preachers. 

In  the  early  days  of  the  mass  movements,  it  was 
an  exceedingly  difficult  thing  for  the  isolated  mis- 
sionary to  know  whether  he  should  start  the  innova- 
tion of  receiving  outcastes.  What  would  other  mis- 
sionaries say?  What  would  be  the  effect  on  the  high 
castes?  Would  it  at  once  and  forever  prejudice  the 
whole  work  among  higher  castes  to  which  hitherto 
missionaries  had  given  their  attention?  Was  there 
not  danger  of  identifying  Christianity  with  the  most 
depressed  classes  of  the  community?  It  was  with 
fear  and  trembling  before  God  that  the  step  was 
taken  in  the  earlier  movements. 

Even  as  late  as  1912  there  was  uncertainty  as  to 
what  the  general  judgment  would  be  about  the  re- 
sultant effect  on  the  high  castes.  It  was  known  that 
many  Hindus  had  come  to  regard  Christianity  as  the 
pariah's  religion.  Had  the  mass  movements,  there- 
fore, become  an  actual  hindrance  to  winning  the 
major  part  of  India?  At  the  National  Missionary 
Council  of  that  year  the  testimony  seemed  conclu- 
sive that  the  transforming  power  of  Christianity  as 
shown  in  raising  the  outcastes  of  India  was  making 
a  profound  impression  upon  non-Christians.  It  is 
an  object  lesson  that  penetrates  to  their  very  homes. 
They  cannot  continue  blind  to  the  ethical  results 
from  an  awakened  spiritual  life  and  to  triumphant 
power  over  temptation  when  these  things  are  mani- 
fested by  their  own  agricultural  laborers  and  menial 


The  Distinctive  Opportunity  in  India         171 

house-servants.  A  villager,  referring  to  some  out- 
castes  who  had  come  under  the  influence  of  Chris- 
tianity but  had  not  yet  been  baptized,  was  heard  to 
remark,  "Now  that  they  have  become  the  friends  of 
Jesus,  why  should  they  not  be  better?"  The  struggle 
for  an  awakened  conscience  is  reflected  in  their  sim- 
ple prayers.  Each  morning  as  the  pineapples  were 
ripening,  a  boy  of  Travancore  was  heard  to  pray, 
"0  Lord,  prevent  me  from  taking  any  pineapple 
when  passing  by."  A  farm  hand  has  prayed:  "O 
God,  let  me  live  in  peace  with  my  master.  Guard  his 
property  and  let  him  always  be  pleased  with  me." 
Another  offered  the  picturesque  confession,  "I  have 
within  me  a  useless  thicket  of  wild  shrubs."  When 
unclean  songs  are  given  up  and  across  the  evening 
stillness  comes  the  sound  of  hymn  or  psalm,  a 
change  in  life  is  sure  to  follow.  Undermining  will 
yet  bring  down  the  whole  hill. 

Moreover,  there  is  the  unconscious  witness  of  the 
Christian  mehtarani  or  sweeper-woman  as  she  goes 
into  a  village  home  for  her  accustomed  work.  To 
the  more  confined  non-Christian  women  she  is  the 
newspaper  of  the  place.  She  tells  about  the  service 
of  the  night  before  and  sings  the  hjnnn  that  was 
sung.  It  would  be  an  interesting  study  to  investi- 
gate the  extent  to  which  the  Roman  Empire  was  won 
by  just  such  illiterate  slaves  who  had  learned  of 
Christ  by  word  of  mouth.  Behind  almost  every 
group  of  Christians  gathered  under  the  shade  of  a 
tree  to  listen  to  the  missionary's  message  stands  a 
group  of  caste  men.  They  are  unwilling  to  be  con- 
sidered as  interested,  for  they  turn  away  if  the  at- 


172  Building  with  India 

tention  of  the  speaker  is  given  to  them.  But  they 
too  are  catching  the  drift  of  a  message  about  a  won- 
derful rebirth  possible  even  to  the  lowest. 

IV 

One  cannot  doubt  the  working  of  God's  Spirit  in 
their  hearts  when  one  sees  the  way  these  mass-move- 
ment Christians  bear  persecution.  There  are  hosts  of 
amazing  and  cruel  ways  in  which  caste  men  may  dis- 
courage the  step  toward  release  through  Christian- 
ity. Wells  from  which  the  Chamars  have  for  centu- 
ries taken  water  are  often  closed  so  that  they  have  to 
carry  water  from  tanks  or  rivers.  Sometimes  their 
right  to  the  common  village  grazing  ground  is  dis- 
puted, or  the  road  to  the  field  is  closed  both  to  cat- 
tle and  people.  Cattle  are  poisoned,  and  the  blame 
placed  upon  Christians.  Men  are  beaten,  roofs  are 
burned,  wages  are  held  back.  Police  arrest  them 
on  false  charges  supported  by  their  persecutors.  A 
young  convert  is  threatened  with  eviction  from  a 
house  in  which  his  fathers  have  lived  for  genera- 
tions. Often  when  a  mission  school  has  been  started 
in  a  village,  a  Christian  woman  is  told  that  she  must 
take  her  child  out  of  school  or  lose  her  job. 

Witnessing  such  cases  of  rank  injustice,  one's 
first  impulse  is  to  go  to  the  collector  or  district 
superintendent  of  police  and  use  influence  to  set 
things  right.  The  general  feeling,  however,  among 
missionaries  is  that  this  natural  impulse  must  be 
restrained  since  in  the  long  run  more  harm  than 
good  is  done. 

For  one  thing,  many  of  the  outcastes'  customary 
rights,  such  as  the  privileges  of  residence,  of  gather- 


The  Distinctive  Opportunity  in  India         173 

ing  wood,  of  taking  mud  from  the  village  tank  for 
houses,  of  sharing  the  grain  at  harvest,  are  given  in 
return  for  the  performance  of  certain  immemorial 
duties.  Manifestly,  one  should  not  attempt  to  judge 
these  matters  without  being  thoroughly  familiar 
with  the  rights  and  duties  of  depressed  peoples.  It 
is  possible  to  relieve  an  individual  Christian,  but  at 
the  same  time  incur  the  ill-will  of  a  whole  village 
toward  all  Christians.  A  particular  case  of  injus- 
tice may  seem  so  clear  that  it  is  taken  up ;  but  one 
has  to  face  the  certainty  that  it  will  be  followed  by 
a  whole  troup  of  requests  for  aid  and  influence  in 
the  courts, — and  sad  experience  has  shown  that 
baptism  has  not  turned  all  these  people  into  honest 
saints  over  night. 

But  even  if  a  district  missionary  should  hesitate 
to  go  to  law  in  behalf  of  his  persecuted  flock,  the 
needy  situation  is  still  there.  It  is  one  of  his  peren- 
nial problems.  Should  he  work  through  his  Indian 
agents  and  preachers-in-charge  ?  Should  he  confine 
himself  to  sympathy  and  comfort  for  the  poor, 
bruised  man,  realizing  that  out  of  this  persecution 
is  coming  a  stronger  Church?  In  these  trying  situa- 
tions should  Christians  be  taught  to  stand  up  for 
their  rights,  or  should  they  be  encouraged  to  have 
a  forgiving  spirit  and  to  pray  for  their  persecutors? 
Perhaps  it  would  be  best  to  meet  with  the  perse- 
cutor in  a  friendly  way  and  endeavor  to  get  him  to 
see  the  matter  from  a  different  angle. 

While  some  of  the  opposition  is  to  Christianity  as 
a  religion,  much  of  it  arises  from  economic  and  so- 
cial causes.  For  example,  the  outcastes  are  the 
back-bone  of  agricultural  field  labor.    In  the  pres- 


174  Building  with  India 

sure  of  harvest-time,  the  cessation  of  all  labor  one 
day  in  seven  naturally  does  not  please  the  farmer. 
As  long  as  an  outcaste  is  not  a  Christian,  the  flesh 
of  a  dead  carcass  serves  as  part  payment  for  mak- 
ing the  hide  into  sandals;  but  since  becoming  a 
Christian  leads  one  to  give  up  carrion  eating,  the 
wage  system  is  manifestly  upset.  Only  certain  low 
castes  will  touch  leather.  It  has  been  their  imme- 
morial duty,  therefore,  to  repair  and  to  beat  the 
drums  so  essential  in  Hindu  ceremonials  and  proces- 
sions. Missionary  practice  has  been  somewhat 
divided  on  the  question  as  to  whether  Christians 
must  give  up  this  community  service  with  its  emolu- 
ments. But  if  they  do,  it  is  easily  seen  that  perse- 
cution may  arise  not  because  the  caste  people  hate 
Christianity,  but  because  their  religious  services 
cannot  go  on  without  the  drums.  Then,  too,  it  irri- 
tates them  to  have  the  child  of  some  despised  Pariah 
sit  in  a  prominent  corner  and  show  off  by  reading  at 
the  top  of  his  voice,  or  even  to  pass  through  the 
bazaar  reading.  You  can  hear  the  zemindars 
(farmers)  say  of  the  Christians,  "Soon  their  chil- 
dren will  be  badshahs,  (kings)  and  we,  their  ser- 
vants." Looking  upon  these  people  much  as  one 
would  upon  an  ox  or  an  ass,  they  naturally  object 
when  missionaries  come  in  and  take  away  their 
subservience. 

V 

Movements  such  as  these  raise  many  kinds  of 
problems.  The  very  numbers  involved  create  an  ini- 
tial difficulty.  Embarrassment  comes  from  their 
very  success.    If  illiterate  people  are  admitted  at  the 


The  Distinctive  Opportunity  in  India         175 

rate  of  20,000  per  year,  and  a  mission  can  turn  out 
only  twelve  teachers  or  preachers  a  year,  what 
should  be  done?  Let  us  take  a  concrete  situation. 
In  1915  in  a  certain  station  (Nizamabad)  there 
were  300  Christians;  in  1919,  6,000.  Estimating 
an  average  of  fifty  Christians  to  a  village,  this  would 
make  desirable  the  development  of  one  hundred  and 
fourteen  new  workers  for  this  district  alone  if  each 
village  is  to  have  a  worker  of  some  sort,  teacher,  or 
preacher  to  help  them  out  of  their  poverty,  il- 
literacy, and  demon  worship.  In  this  mission  as  a 
whole,  baptisms  have  been  made  at  the  rate  of  7,000 
a  year  for  the  past  three  years.  Whence  shall  come 
the  teachers  for  these  new  thousands? 

Let  us  take  another  typical  situation  in  a  mass 
movement  area.  The  missionary  in  charge  has  two 
hundred  villages  to  visit  during  the  cold  season,  and 
his  itinerary  is  laid  out  for  months  ahead.  One  day 
several  lowcaste  visitors  turn  up  from  a  distant 
village.  The  leader  takes  from  his  cloth  a  stone  idol 
which  has  been  the  chief  god  of  the  community.  He 
reports  that  the  whole  outcaste  section  of  his  village 
is  willing  to  come  and  "take  hold  of  the  feet  of 
Jesus."  But  every  worker  is  already  pressed. 
Every  available  rupee  given  by  the  Churches  of  the 
West  has  been  appropriated  for  schools  and 
preachers  needed  for  those  already  Christian.  These 
new  seekers  after  Jesus  are  illiterate,  and  so  it  is 
not  practicable  simply  to  provide  them  with  Bibles 
and  Sunday-school  literature  and  throw  them  on 
their  own  resources.  They  do  not  know  the  Ten 
Commandments.  They  do  not  know  the  Lord's 
Prayer.     Of  what  use  is  a  baptized  heathendom 


176  Building  with  India 

unless  there  is  the  assurance  of  nurture  and  growth? 
Suppose  a  mother  who  has  relapsed  into  idolatry- 
explains  :  "My  little  girl  got  small-pox.  I  tried  every- 
way I  could  to  learn  what  Christian  mothers  do 
when  their  little  girls  have  small-pox,  but  I  could 
not  learn.  I  did  not  want  my  child  to  die.  Not 
knowing  what  else  to  do,  I  took  out  the  small-pox 
god,  killed  the  hen,  offered  the  blood,  and  burned 
the  incense."  We  may  not  feel  like  reproaching  the 
mother,  but  the  awful  risk  of  an  unshepherded  flock 
is  manifest.  Situations  like  these  lie  back  of  report 
after  report  from  these  mass  movement  areas  of 
thousands,  literally  thousands,  who  could  be  taken 
into  the  Church  if  it  were  properly  supported. 

To  many  of  the  problems,  the  greatest  wisdom  and 
historical  judgment  should  be  brought.  For  exam- 
ple, in  many  centers  these  people  seem  to  be  in  a 
hopeless  economic  situation.  Laws  and  conditions 
are  such  that  it  is  practically  certain  that  they  can- 
not get  a  place  on  the  land.  It  seems  almost  a  trav- 
esty to  ask  them  to  live  and  think  as  Christians,  yet 
continue  their  present  work  suffocated  in  a  blanket 
of  scorn.  How  can  they  ever  gain  self-respect  in 
their  old  environment?  On  the  other  hand,  in  the 
cities  the  factories  are  calling  for  labor.  Shall  the 
missionary  be  responsible  for  initiating  a  big  labor 
migration,  thus  reducing  the  supply  of  workers  in 
the  villages,  increasing  the  demand,  and  hence  bet- 
tering the  condition  of  those  that  remain  ?  Or  are  the 
risks  of  bringing  these  former  outcastes  into  an 
urban  environment  too  great?  Will  it  be  better  on 
the  whole  to  leave  things  as  they  are  and  teach  that 
he  who  "sweeps  a  room  for  Christ"  does  noble  ser- 


The  Distinctive  Opportunity  in  India         177 

vice?  It  may  seem  best  to  attempt  to  find  some  way 
of  raising  the  level  of  the  depressed  classes  where 
they  are.  If  so,  will  it  be  better,  with  limited  funds, 
to  raise  the  whole  mass  a  little  or  to  train  a  few  in- 
tensively? 

The  Government  in  certain  provinces  makes  an 
appropriation  for  the  alleviation  of  the  Panchamas. 
It  is  given  because  of  their  deplorable  economic  con- 
dition by  a  government  quite  neutral  in  religious 
matters.  When  they  become  Christians,  technically 
they  are  not  Panchamas.  Both  Government  and 
missionaries  are  perplexed  as  to  procedure,  since  the 
need  of  help  is  still  there.  In  dealing  with  Govern- 
ment, shall  they  be  called  Panchamas ;  i.e.,  outcastes 
of  Hinduism?  Or  shall  they  be  called  Christians 
and  forego  this  aid? 

If  two  or  three  people  from  a  village  come  for 
baptism  which,  publicly  given,  will  cut  them  off 
from  their  community  and  cause  their  influence 
largely  to  cease,  would  it  be  wise  to  receive  them 
secretly?  Another  difficulty  is  the  preservation  of 
the  rich  and  inner  significance  of  baptism.  Non- 
Christians  in  general  have  come  to  think  of  this 
ceremony  as  that  which  makes  a  Christian.  Perse- 
cution usually  begins  after  baptism.  Hindus  are 
not  so  concerned  with  what  their  friends  believe, 
but  they  are  tremendously  concerned  when  this  rite 
is  administered.  Where  danger  and  non-Christian 
opinion  so  emphasize  baptism,  it  is  difficult  even  for 
Christians  to  realize  that  it  is  something  in  the  life 
itself  that  should  differentiate  a  Christian — some- 
thing more  than  an  initial  ceremony. 

A  problem  that  has  divided  missionary  practice 


zyS  Building  with  India 

from  the  beginning  is  whether  these  men  and  women 
should  be  baptized  as  soon  as  they  are  willing  to 
receive  baptism,  or  whether  there  should  be  delay 
until  they  give  proof  of  Christian  faith  and  works. 
It  is  more  difficult  than  deciding  whether  you  would 
have  baptized  the  Ethiopian  eunuch.  It  sends  one 
back  to  see  what  Paul  and  Peter  did  and  to  ask 
guidance  as  to  what  to  do. 

Many  frankly  allow  early  baptism.  In  the  prac- 
tice of  certain  missions,  baptism  has,  therefore,  al- 
most lost  its  original  significance.  It  marks  the 
beginning  of  an  opportunity  for  Christian  instruc- 
tion rather  than  its  end.  Many  of  these  people  in 
all  their  lives  have  never  tried  to  learn  anything, 
and  hence  find  it  exceedingly  laborious  to  memorize 
the  Lord's  Prayer,  the  Creed,  or  the  Ten  Command- 
ments. "Suffered  under  Pontius  Pilate,  dead,  and 
buried"  does  not  mean  much  to  them.  Their  vocabu- 
lary is  poor — a  paltry  list  of  words  representing 
material  objects.  They  are  not  used  to  abstract  and 
spiritual  ideas.  "Yes,"  said  a  village  woman  to 
whom  the  old,  old  story  was  being  told,  "when  you 
are  here  speaking  to  us,  we  seem  to  see  it,  but  when 
you  are  gone,  and  we  are  hungry,  food  is  all  that  we 
can  think  about."  Difficulties  such  as  these  seem  to 
justify  a  low  standard  of  admission,  and  it  is  argued 
that  the  children,  at  least,  may  come  under  instruc- 
tion. With  reference  to  those  baptized  in  middle 
life,  a  promise  is  remembered  that  where  little  is 
given,  little  will  be  required. 

On  the  other  hand,  many  missionaries  and  an  in- 
creasing number  of  educated  Indian  Christians  are 
alarmed  lest  caste  and  other  non-Christian  customs 


The  Distinctive  Opportunity  in  India         179 

may  get  their  hold  on  the  Church  of  India  through 
too  early  baptism.  Many  feel  that  there  is  danger 
of  cutting  them  adrift  from  old  customs  and 
restraints  which  had  weight  with  them,  before  the 
new  Christian  controls  have  taken  their  place.  Some 
fear  that  the  way  is  opened  to  the  use  of  unspiritual 
pressure  when,  for  example,  a  group  who  seek  bap- 
tism are  told  that  they  will  not  be  received  until  all 
the  outcaste  quarter  of  their  village  comes  with 
them.  Such  missionaries  are  jealous  of  the  signifi- 
cance of  the  rite  of  baptism  and  want  the  standard 
of  purity,  knowledge,  and  character  kept  high. 

Faced  with  the  ignorance  and  servility  of  former 
demon-worshippers,  it  is  no  easy  question  to  decide 
what  should  be  the  conditions  upon  which  people 
will  be  admitted  to  the  Church.  It  is  a  serious  ques- 
tion, for  we  are  told  how  certain  missions  took 
alarm  at  the  enormous  number  of  accessions  and 
hence  raised  the  standard  of  knowledge  to  be  re- 
quired of  converts.  The  result  was  not  only  that 
the  movement  was  checked,  but  that  the  congrega- 
tions they  already  had  began  to  die.  To  meet  all 
such  problems  wisdom,  forethought,  and  experience 
are  needed,  but  above  all,  sensitiveness  to  the  move- 
ment of  God's  Spirit. 

VI 

Today  these  masses  are  receptive.  There  is 
scarcely  a  limit  to  the  numbers  who  would  place 
themselves  under  instruction.  But  it  is  a  time  of 
passing  opportunity.  Various  non-Christian  organi- 
zations are  determined  to  outflank  the  missionary 
movement  by  sweeping  outcastes  into  Hinduism  or 


i8o  Building  with  India 

Muhammadanism.  Still  others  are  stimulated  by 
political  motives.  Now  that  the  principle  of  com- 
munity representation  has  been  introduced,  both 
Hindus  and  Muhammadans  naturally  want  to  at- 
tach these  millions  to  their  groups.  Still  other  non- 
Christians  are  influenced  by  the  dominant  national 
consciousness  to  relieve  the  wretched  conditions  of 
the  depressed  classes,  since  their  very  patriotism 
leads  them  to  see  that  India  cannot  go  far  forward 
with  such  a  drag  upon  it.  Most  significant  of  all  is 
the  fact  that  at  last  the  conscience  of  India  has  been 
touched  by  what  Christians  have  dared  to  attempt 
and  have  actually  accomplished.  Increasingly,  from 
the  highest  motives,  non-Christians  are  taking  up 
the  task  of  helping  the  Panchamas. 

From  the  standpoint  of  urgency  it  is  significant 
to  note  that,  although  the  Indian  National  Congress 
did  not  recognize  this  problem  in  its  platform  until 
1917,  now  all  the  important  political  parties  in  India 
are  pledged  to  the  elevation  of  the  depressed  classes. 
The  Liberals  have  placed  the  uplift  of  the  Untouch- 
ables in  the  very  forefront  of  their  program  and 
have  promised  to  bring  it  about  by  giving  them  spe- 
cial educational  facilities.  The  Nationalists  have  de- 
clared themselves  against  untouchability  and  have 
promised  full  rights  of  citizenship  to  the  depressed 
classes.  The  non-Brahman  party  attaches  great  im- 
portance to  the  emancipation  of  these  submerged 
sections  of  the  community,  while  the  Non-Coopera- 
tors  through  their  leader,  Mahatma  Gandhi,  say  that 
India  is  not  worthy  of  attaining  full  self-govern- 
ment unless  the  stigma  of  untouchability  is  removed. 

Public  opinion  is  beginning  to  be  aroused.     A 


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VETERAN  INDIAN  PASTORS 


Many  more  such  loyal  and  faithful  men  would  be 
available  for  Christian  service  if  greater  resources  for 
training  could  be  provided. 


The  Distinctive  Opportunity  in  India         i8i 

"Depressed  Classes  Mission  Society,"  organized  by 
Prarthana  Samajists,  but  largely  supported  by  Hin- 
dus, has  been  at  work  since  1906.  The  Panchamas 
themselves  in  various  quarters  are  finding  a  voice 
to  claim  their  right  of  being  treated  as  human 
beings,  thus  showing  that — as  the  Indian  proverb 
runs —  "The  toad  beneath  the  harrow  knows  exactly 
where  each  tooth-point  goes."  If  the  Christian 
Church  fails  to  enter  the  doors  now  so  widely  open 
and  win  these  people  for  Christ,  they  will,  therefore, 
be  absorbed  by  other  religions,  and  the  task  of 
awakening  them  to  their  birthright  will  be  vastly 
more  difficult  and  long  delayed.  In  any  case,  the 
problem  is  so  vast  and  the  prejudices  and  vested 
interests  against  them  are  so  entrenched,  that  no 
one  with  the  love  of  Christ  within  him  can  leave 
them  to  struggle  up  themselves.  "Inasmuch  as  ye 
did  it  not  unto  one  of  the  least  of  these,  ye  did  it  not 
unto  me." 

In  the  light  of  this  urgent  situation,  face  the  un- 
dermanning  of  most  missions.  It  is  a  matter  of 
record  that  certain  mass  movements  have  largely 
failed  simply  because  the  missions  related  to  them 
were  not  sufficiently  manned  to  conserve  results.^ 
Listen  to  the  intense  words  of  one  worker.  "I  have 
been  in  this  district  three  years  and  have  not  yet 
been  able  to  get  once  around  to  the  villages.  I  have 
roughly  eight  thousand  Christians.  In  July  and 
August  the  average  number  of  requests  for  mar- 
riage ceremonies  works  out  at  twenty  per  week.  To 
perform  these  marriages  off  in  distant  and  scat- 
tered  villages,    reached   by   dusty   and   imperfect 

^World  Missionary  Conference,  1910,  Vol.  I,  p.  291. 


1 82  Building  with  India 

roads,  there  are  only  myself  and  one  Indian  deacon. 
Since  the  task  is  impossible  of  accomplishment,  they 
go  off  and  marry  by  heathen  rites.  It  is  not  the 
work  that  kills  us,  it  is  this  weight  of  unmet  need." 

Boarding-schools  have  not  sufficient  accommoda- 
tions for  the  boys  and  girls  who  might  become 
future  leaders.  Education  in  the  fullest  sense  of 
that  term  is  the  greatest  need — education  of  the 
young  and  education  of  adults,  education  of  leaders 
and  education  that  will  fit  for  going  on  with  village 
life,  education  for  citizenship  in  the  new  India  and 
in  the  city  of  God. 

Doors  are  so  wide  open  that  the  whole  of  this 
depressed  community  might  be  led  to  start  its  long 
course  upward  in  the  school  of  Christ.  Further- 
more, it  comes  from  such  a  low  general  level  that  it 
is  a  unique  opportunity  for  a  great  object  lesson — 
the  application  of  the  whole  gospel  to  the  whole  man. 
The  Church  of  Christ  has  had  no  greater  oppor- 
tunity presented  to  it. 

Does  our  response  to  this  situation  justify  for  us 
the  name — co-workers  with  God  ?  If  only  we  would 
set  in  motion  available  resources,  human  and  divine, 
the  ancient  prophecy  might  be  again  fulfilled;  "I 
will  say  to  them  which  were  not  my  people.  Thou  art 
my  people;  and  they  shall  say.  Thou  art  my  God." 
The  mass  movements  are  an  emergency  and  should 
be  treated  as  an  emergency  in  our  praying  and  in 
our  giving.  As  we  look  out  upon  these  multitudes 
who  will  willingly  come  when  we  are  ready  to  pro- 
vide preachers  and  teachers  to  care  for  them,  we 
can  hear  the  Master's  voice  as  plainly  as  it  ever 
sounded  in  Galilee,  "Give  ye  them  to  eat." 


Prayer 

WE  praise  Thee,  O  Father,  for  the  glorious 
testimony  to  Thy  transforming  power 
which  is  changing  the  slaves  of  India  into 
sons  of  God.  Strengthen  them  in  persecution  and 
in  those  dark  crises  of  plague  or  famine  when  old 
habits  pull  them  back  to  their  idols  and  worship  of 
demons. 

€[May  those  who  go  to  them  be  able  to  see  through 
the  dull  and  haunted  faces  the  priceless  worth  of 
human  life  and  love  them.  Give  to  us  here  the 
same  spirit  of  insight  that  we  may  see  beyond  the 
squalor,  the  poverty,  the  ignorance,  and  supersti- 
tion of  these  outcaste  people  to  a  future  of  devel- 
oped dignity  and  worthfulness  for  them.  Make  us 
to  care,  O  Lord,  that  through  no  selfishness  or  indif- 
ference we  may  refuse  help  to  those  outstretched 
arms. 

€LFather,  we  catch  glimpses  of  ourselves  in  the 
outcastes  of  India.  Unexpectant  of  Thy  riches,  we 
also  have  been  content  with  the  lower  levels  of 
daily  living.  Awaken  us,  O  Lord,  blow  upon  us 
with  Thy  Spirit  that  our  soul-life  may  be  quickened 
until  we  also  reach  out  for  help.  Forbid  that  we 
shall  miss  the  miracle  of  transformation,  for  Thy 
power  which  looketh  upon  wasted  lives  in  far-off 
India  is  available  for  us  today.  May  our  faces 
catch  the  Light;  may  our  hearts  flame  with  Thy 
love;  may  our  lives  reflect  Thy  Spirit,  through 
Jesus  Christ  our  Lord.     Amen. 


183 


CHAPTER  SIX 

The  Indian  Church 

I 

When  we  think  of  India,  or  of  any  non-Christian 
land,  what  should  be  the  absorbing  center  of 
our  thought?  When  we  pray  for  the  growth  of  the 
Kingdom,  shall  we  remember  only  or  primarily  our 
boards,  our  missionaries,  and  their  work?  When 
we  read  pamphlets  and  magazines  and  reports  on 
missions,  should  we  be  content  to  have  them  focus 
attention  on  missionary  institutions  and  personnel 
abroad  and  survey  the  work  from  the  standpoint  of 
their  problems,  their  needs,  and  their  triumphs? 
Or  should  we  educate  ourselves  to  regard  something 
else  as  the  central  factor  in  the  situation? 

If  the  world-task  is  the  development  of  a  divine 
society  of  which  God  is  the  father-like  ruler,  and 
of  which  ministrant,  cooperative  love  is  the  vitaliz- 
ing principle,  we  can  see  how  the  center  of  gravity 
of  our  thought  should  be  the  development  of  this 
spiritual  society  in  the  land  we  are  considering.  The 
goal  toward  which  we  move  is  Christian  fellowship 
characterized  by  love  and  mutual  service  and  con- 
tinuously enriched  by  the  special  gifts  which  each 
can  contribute.  The  most  effective  Christian  wit- 
ness is  such  a  Christian  society.  On  the  purely  prac- 
tical plane,  also,  a  Christian  society  is  necessary, 
since  the  stupendous  task  before  us  will  never  be 
accomplished  by  the  isolated  exertions  of  individual 
Christians. 

In   India,  therefore,   the  focus   of  our  interest 

184 


The  Indian  Church  185 

should  be  the  Indian  Church.^  The  time  is  at  hand 
when  India  is  going  to  be  influenced  to  accept  Christ 
primarily  by  the  witness  of  her  own  people — ^that  is, 
by  the  Indian  Church.  Friends  from  the  West  will 
still  be  most  urgently  needed  to  help,  to  counsel,  to 
train,  to  educate,  to  share  experience  and  aspiration. 
But  conditions  in  India  and  the  growth  of  the  Chris- 
tian Church  are  causing  Christianity's  frontal 
attack  to  pass  out  of  the  hands  of  the  missionary. 
This  enables  the  missionary  appeal  to  become  more 
unselfish  even  than  in  the  past.  Its  present  numbers 
are  not  a  matter  of  primary  concern — some  five 
millions,  or,  roughly,  one  in  seventy  of  the  popula- 
tion, over  half  of  whom  are  the  outgrowth  of  Ameri- 
can mission  work ;  nor  even  is  its  rate  of  growth  of 
first  importance — varying  from  twenty-two  per  cent 
to  thirty-four  per  cent  during  the  four  decades  from 
1871  to  1911.  These  figures  enable  us  to  realize  a 
most  significant  fact  that  an  Indian  Church  does 
exist.  But  there  is  a  more  vital  question  than  num- 
bers. Is  it  the  kind  of  Church  that  in  due  time  can 
win  India  to  fellowship  in  the  world-wide  Christian 
society? 

II 

Such  a  victorious  Church  must  be  of  the  soil,  ex- 
pressing its  faith  in  its  own  characteristic  ways — 
that  is,  indigenous.  Just  as  in  Europe  Christianity 
developed  a  Latin,  a  Greek,  and  a  Teutonic  type,  so 
there  will  likely  be  a  Japanese,  a  Chinese,  and  an  In- 
dian type  of  Christianity  when  it  has  gripped  the 


1  Toward  this  end  I  would  strongly  recommend  the  reading 
of  Indian  Christian  biography.    See  Bibliography. 


i86  Building  with  India 

very  soul  of  each  people.  Are  there  signs  that  Chris- 
tianity has  become  naturalized  and  that  Indian  Chris- 
tians have  begun  to  clothe  it  in  thought-forms  and 
institutions  which  have  been  immemorial  expres- 
sions of  Indian  religious  life?  More  fundamental 
even  than  the  assumption  of  Oriental  forms  is  that 
birth  of  the  conviction  in  the  people  themselves 
that  Christ  alone  can  save  India.  Let  two  lives — 
Narayan  Vaman  Tilak  and  Sadhu  Sundar  Singh — 
illustrate  the  modern  trend  toward  an  indigenous 
Church. 
Y  N.  V.  Tilak,  at  his  death  in  1919,  was  the  most 

influential  Christian  leader  and  teacher  in  western 
India,  in  fact  one  of  the  most  notable  figures  that 
Indian  Christianity  has  yet  produced.  One  of  the 
sources  of  his  power  was  his  remarkable  poetic 
gift.  He  sang  his  way  with  the  Christian  message 
into  the  hearts  of  the  people.  His  simple,  beautiful, 
vital,  vernacular  verse  clung  in  the  memory  of  In- 
dia's music-loving  soul.  His  hymns  and  songs  were 
caught  up  in  the  market-place  as  well  as  the  church, 
lifting  thousands  of  Christians  to  greater  heights 
of  devotion  and  bringing  many  non-Christians  to 
the  Master.  Only  those  who  know  of  India's  pas- 
sionate love  of  poetry  and  of  song,  and  have  there- 
fore coveted  the  gift  of  music  for  the  Christian 
Church,  can  appreciate  the  service  he  has  rendered 
in  putting  into  verse  the  Sermon  on  the  Mount  and 
the  life  of  Christ. 

A  second  great  endeavor  of  his  life  was  to  give  a 
truly  Indian  expression  to  Christianity.  He  came 
into  a  weak  church,  which  was  neither  Indian  nor 
European,  and  which  was  tending  to  adopt  Western 


The  Indian  Church  187 

dress  and  Western  customs.  With  wonderful  re- 
sourcefulness and  zest,  he  devoted  himself  to  stem 
the  tide  toward  denationalism.  By  pen,  by  voice, 
by  acts,  he  showed  that  in  becoming  a  Christian  one 
need  not  necessarily  become  a  traitor  to  one's  heri- 
tage. To  him  Christ  was  an  Oriental,  who  came  to 
fulfil  the  highest  longings  of  Hinduism.  He  was 
proud  of  all  that  was  best  in  India's  history  and  tra- 
ditions, and  gladly  claimed  himself  a  child  of  her 
great  culture.  Through  him  more  festivals,  so 
loved  in  India,  were  introduced  into  the  Christian 
year;  and  forms  of  worship  more  in  harmony  with 
the  Indian  spirit  were  started  in  the  villages. 

His  love  of  country  was  intense  and  contagious. 
This  was  carried  over  from  his  youth  as  a  Brah- 
man. In  fact  it  was  patriotism  rather  than  personal 
need  that  first  led  him  to  be  a  Christian.  Tilak 
became  a  follower  of  Jesus  to  save  his  country.  He 
was  a  mediator  not  only  between  ruler  and  ruled, 
but  between  Christian  and  non-Christian,  calling 
the  growing  Christian  community  to  play  its  part 
in  the  great  events  of  India's  life.  His  last  message, 
dictated  just  before  his  death,  was  an  appeal  to  his 
countrymen  to  take  the  spirit  of  Christ  into  their 
politics.  This  unquestioned  love  of  India  created 
in  non-Christians  a  new  respect  for  followers  of  the 
Christ. 

But  most  precious  of  all  was  the  way  in  which 
through  song  he  sought  to  enter  into  fellowship  with 
God.  The  Marathi  hymn-book  is  colored  beyond 
anything  we  possess  by  the  hymns  he  wrote  on  the 
subject  of  union  and  communion  with  God.  He 
gave  passionate  poetic  utterance  to  the  solace  found 


1 88  Building  with  India 

in  a  divine  Companion.  Those  who  know  India  will 
recognize  at  once  that  in  this  seeking  after  God,  that 
is  neither  ascetic  nor  yet  intellectual,  he  was  one  of 
India's  great  Bhaktas  (devotees) .  He  differed,  how- 
ever, from  those  longing  searchers  in  the  rest  and 
victory  which  he  discovered  in  Christ. 

One  of  his  poems,  thought  to  contain  the  essence  of 
his  message,  though  missing  in  its  English  transla- 
tion the  singing  quality  of  the  original,  is  as  follows: 

Insatiate 

The  more  I  win  Thee,  Lord,  the  more  for  Thee  I  pine; 

Ah,  such  a  heart  is  mine! 
My  eyes  behold  Thee  and  are  filled,  and  straightway  then 

Their  hunger  wakes  again! 
My  arms  have  clasped  Thee  and  should  set  Thee  free,  but 
no, 

I  cannot  let  Thee  go ! 
Thou  dwell'st  within  my  heart.     Forthwith  anew  the  fire 

Burns  of  my  soul's  desire. 
Lord  Jesus  Christ,  Beloved,  tell,  O  tell  me  true. 

What  shall  Thy  servant  do? 

Another  beautifully  reveals  his  strong  love  of 
country  combined  with  a  passionate  loyalty  to  Jesus: 

My  Motherland 

My  mother  is  the  land  of  Hind,  and  all  her  children  are 

diamonds  and  rubies  to  me. 
My  heart  is  absorbed  in  these  precious  jewels. 
Some  are  buried  deep  in  rubbish  heaps  and  some  still  lie 

hidden  in  earth's  depths; 
Some  decorate  Hind's  princely  crowns. 
But  all,  all  I  long  to  love — I,  the  servant  of  my  motherland. 

I  have  a  message  I  must  tell  out.    Listen,  all  ye  children  of 

the  Hind! 
All,  all  is  vain  without  Christ. 
Only  if  He  fill  our  heart  till  it  o'erflow. 
Only  then  can  we  understand  what  God  means  us  to  be 

and  do! 
'Tis  Jesus  who  makes  the  true  patriot; 
So  I — His  servant — am  the  servant  of  my  motherland. 


The  Indian  Church  189 

Who,  then,  was  this  Tilak?  He  was  born  in  a 
Brahman  home,  and  for  thirty-three  of  his  fifty- 
seven  years  he  was  a  Hindu.  His  mother  early  im- 
pressed upon  him  the  fear  of  God,  and  her  life  was 
such  that  Mr.  Tilak  often  declared  that  he  had  never 
known  any  woman  so  perfect  as  his  mother.  Another 
powerful  influence  in  his  early  years  was  a  famous 
Hindu  scholar  under  whom  he  studied  and  with 
whom  he  delved  deep  into  Sanskrit  learning.  Be- 
lieving that  idolatry,  pantheism,  and  caste  were 
holding  back  his  country,  he  passionately  repudiated 
them  and  began  to  search  for  a  more  satisfying 
religion.  Several  years  were  spent  in  pilgriming 
from  one  part  of  India  to  another,  searching  for  a 
satisfying  religion. 

When  about  twenty-two  years  of  age,  he  met  by 
chance,  in  a  railway  train,  an  unknown  European 
who,  in  their  brief  conversation,  opened  up  the  sig- 
nificance of  Christ,  leaving  with  him  a  New  Testa- 
ment. From  that  time  he  began  to  study  the  life 
of  Christ.  He  has  told  us  how  he  was  affected  when 
for  the  first  time  he  came  across  the  Sermon  on  the 
Mount.  "I  could  not  tear  myself  away  from  those 
sentences,  so  full  of  charm  and  beauty,  which  ex- 
press the  love  and  tenderness  and  truth  that  the 
sermon  conveys.  In  these  three  chapters  I  found 
answers  to  the  most  abstruse  problems  of  Hindu 
philosophy.  It  swayed  me  to  see  how  here  the  most 
profound  problems  were  completely  solved.  I  went 
on  eagerly  reading  to  the  last  page  of  the  Bible  that 
I  might  learn  more  of  Christ."  As  a  result  of  be- 
coming a  Christian,  Tilak  lost  his  position  and  was 
reduced  to  poverty.    Wife  and  child  refused  to  live 


igo  Building  with  India 

with  him.  Finally,  in  1895,  he  publicly  professed 
his  faith  in  Christ.  Thus  began  his  leadership  of 
the  Christian  Church  and  the  revelation  of  what 
Indian  Christianity  might  become. 

Ill 

A  figure  that  has  even  more  caught  the  imagina- 
tion of  India  is  that  of  Sadhu  Sundar  Singh.  Bare- 
footed, robed  in  saffron,  ever  traveling,  with  no 
center  acknowledged  as  home,  living  from  the  alms 
of  those  who  see  his  need,  the  Sadhu  at  once  sug- 
gests one  of  India's  many  ascetic  mendicants.  His 
countenance  is  singularly  sweet  and  benign,  and  to 
many  he  recalls  traditional  pictures  of  Jesus.  St. 
Francis  of  Assisi  is  the  nearest  Western  type.  The 
narrative  of  his  life  reads  like  a  page  from  the 
Bible.  In  fastings,  in  peril  of  rivers,  in  peril  of 
robbers,  in  journeyings  often,  in  persecutions,  in 
imprisonings,  bound,  beaten,  stoned,  fed  as  by 
miracle,  released  inexplicably,  Sadhu  Sundar  Singh 
bears  the  marks  of  a  friend  of  Christ. 

Sundar  Singh  deliberately  attempts  to  Indianize 
Christianity.  He  prefers  that  Indian  Christians 
should  sit  on  the  floor  in  church;  that  they  should 
remove  their  shoes  instead  of  their  turbans;  that 
Indian  music  should  be  sung;  and  that  long,  in- 
formal talks  should  take  the  place  of  sermons.  It 
is,  however,  his  adoption  of  the  life  of  a  sadhu  or 
typical  holy  man  of  India,  that  is  his  most  striking 
contribution.  It  releases  him  from  the  distractions 
of  worldly  cares,  gives  a  sense  of  freedom,  and  to 
Sundar  Singh  it  is  the  best  way  of  commending  the 
gospel  to  the  multitudes  of  India.    It  might  be  called 


The  Indian  Church  191 

moneyless  evangelism.  The  Indian  Church  has  shown 
its  readiness  to  welcome  a  Christian  sadhuism,  al- 
though as  yet  scarcely  more  than  a  dozen  examples 
can  be  found  within  its  circle. 

The  Sadhu  constantly  uses  word  pictures  in  his 
teaching,  and  by  this  characteristically  Eastern 
method,  he  gives  his  reason  for  Indianizing  Chris- 
tianity. "Once  when  I  was  traveling  in  Rajputana 
there  was  a  Brahman  of  high  caste  hurrying  to  the 
station.  Overcome  by  the  great  heat,  he  fell  down 
on  the  platform.  The  Anglo-Indian  station-master, 
anxious  to  help  him,  offered  him  water  in  a  Western 
cup.  But  the  Brahman  would  not  take  the  water, 
although  he  was  very  thirsty.  *I  cannot  drink  that 
water.  I  would  prefer  to  die.'  *I  am  not  asking  you 
to  eat  the  cup,'  the  station  master  said  to  him.  *I 
will  not  break  my  caste,'  he  said,  'I  am  willing  to 
die.'  When,  however,  the  water  was  brought  to 
him  in  his  own  brass  vessel,  he  drank  it  eagerly.  It 
is  the  same  with  the  Water  of  Life.  Indians  do  need 
the  Water  of  Life,  but  not  in  the  European  cup." 

For  seventeen  years  Sundar  Singh  has  traveled 
over  the  length  and  breadth  of  India — with  short 
visits  to  Japan,  Britain,  and  America.  Probably 
no  Indian  Christian  has  made  so  deep  and  so  wide 
an  impression  on  his  native  land.  With  abundance 
of  picturesque  illustration  and  parable,  with  a 
directness  and  simplicity  of  spiritual  perception 
which  impresses  everyone  who  hears  him,  he  has 
borne  most  effective  testimony  to  the  power  of 
Christ. 

We  may  well  inquire  what  was  the  early  training 
that  enabled  him  to  bring  a  new  emphasis  into  the 


xg2  Building  with  India 

Indian  Church.  The  Sadhu  was  born  in  1889,  his 
parents  being  Sikhs  of  high  birth  and  great  wealth. 
His  mother  constantly  held  before  him  the  ideal  of 
India's  "holy  men,"  bidding  him  abandon  the  things 
of  this  world  and  strive  to  obtain  inner  peace.  At 
seven  years  of  age  he  had  committed  to  memory  all 
the  Bhagavad  Gita — ^the  most  popular  and  influen- 
tial scripture  of  Hinduism.  At  sixteen  years  of  age, 
after  a  period  of  bitter  opposition  to  Christianity, 
during  which  he  tore  up  the  Bible  or  burned  it  when 
he  had  a  chance,  he  became  a  Christian.  Then  began 
his  presentation  of  his  newly  found  religion  in  a 
characteristic  Hindu  way — wandering  from  place  to 
place,  possessing  nothing  but  his  robe,  his  blanket, 
and  a  copy  of  the  New  Testament.  Thus  did  his 
mother's  ideal  bear  fruit  in  the  Christian  Church. 

IV 
The  relation  of  the  Christian  Church  to  national- 
ism is  naturally  a  matter  of  importance.  We  saw  in 
the  second  chapter  that  there  are  certain  serious 
handicaps  on  India's  progress.  The  Christian  com- 
munity is  making  more  actual  advance  in  removing 
these  drags  on  national  attainment  than  any  other 
religious  group.  Let  figures  with  reference  to  edu- 
cation illustrate  this  fact.  Among  Christians  there 
are  twice  as  many  literate  men  and  twelve  times  as 
many  literate  women  per  thousand  as  among  the 
Hindus.  In  the  advanced  classes  of  mission  high 
schools  many  hundreds  of  Christian  girls  are  en- 
joying a  little  of  that  healthy,  care-free  girlhood 
which  we  value  for  our  children,  while  their  non- 
Christian  sisters — Garland-of -Pearls,  Playing-Moon- 


\ 


The  Indian  Church  193 

Beams,  and  Shanti  (Peace) — are  suffering  the  cruel 
injustice  of  early  motherhood.  "School  goer"  is  the 
local  name  for  a  Christian  in  one  area.  The  mail 
coming  and  going  from  the  little  Christian  com- 
munity in  many  a  village  is  greater  than  that  of  a 
dozen  neighboring  non-Christian  villages.  Having 
emerged  in  general  from  an  illiterate  class,  these  vil- 
lagers could  not  have  attained  this  relatively  high 
literacy  without  considerable  parental  sacrifice  and 
vision.  Moreover,  they  have  given  to  the  country 
schoolmasters  and  schoolmistresses  out  of  all  pro- 
portion to  their  numbers.  In  their  accomplishments  / 
toward  abolishing  illiteracy,  therefore,  Christians  j 
may  be  considered  true  patriots. 

But  in  more  direct  ways  the  Christian  leaders 
are  identifying  themselves  with  India's  welfare. 
The  father  of  constitutional  agitation  in  India  was 
the  late  Krishna  Mohan  Banner jea,  D.  L.,  one  of 
Alexander  Duff's  converts.  In  a  recent  volume  on  In- 
dia's Nation  Builders  one  chapter  out  of  the  fifteen  is 
given  to  Kali  Charan  Banurji  (1847-1907),  who  ex- 
erted a  powerful  influence  on  the  public  life  of  Cal- 
cutta and  manifested  devotion  and  loyalty  to  the 
cause  of  India  as  long  as  he  lived.  Moreover,  the 
very  machinery  of  representative  church  govern- 
ment which  has  been  introduced  by  many  denomina- 
tions is  playing  a  very  important  part  in  training 
for  political  self-government,  just  as  it  did  in  Colo- 
nial days  in  the  United  States. 

From  the  Christian  community  have  come  mem- 
bers of  the  legislative  council,  judges  of  the  law 
courts,  scores  of  government  servants  as  magis- 
trates, sub-magistrates,  doctors,  and  engineers,  and 


/ 


194  Building  with  India 

members  of  city  and  town  municipal  councils.  When 
the  reforms  went  into  operation  in  1920,  the  Hindu 
governor  of  Behar  and  Orissa  appointed  a  Christian 
as  one  of  his  ministers.  Every  year  an  increasing 
number  of  Indian  Christians  are  being  sent  to  the 
Indian  National  Congress.  An  "All-India  Confer- 
ence of  Indian  Christians"  has  been  held  annually 
since  1914.  Between  fifty  and  sixty  delegates  come 
together  to  discuss  such  questions  as  the  disabilities 
of  Christians,  the  revision  of  the  Christian  marriage 
act,  various  representations  to  Government,  means 
of  fostering  public  opinion,  and  the  development  of 
the  intellectual,  moral,  economic,  and  industrial  re- 
sources of  the  country.  Compared  with  twenty 
years  ago,  there  is  more  attention  given  on  the  part 
of  the  Christian  community  to  Indian  dress  and 
Indian  names. 

The  reforms  have  brought  a  very  difficult  problem 
to  Indian  Christians.  With  a  greatly  increased  vot- 
ing constituency,  the  Government  has  introduced 
for  certain  communities  the  privilege  of  separate 
electorates.  In  other  words,  in  order  to  safeguard 
the  interest  of  a  given  community,  the  Government 
sets  aside  for  it  a  certain  number  of  seats  in  the  leg- 
islative council  and  gives  this  community  exclusive 
vote  for  such  seats.  A  great  problem  for  the  mem- 
bers of  the  Christian  community  is,  whether  they 
shall  seek  this  privilege  or  not.  Many  hold  that  the 
self-interests  of  the  Christian  community  demand 
this  separate  representation.  Others  feel  that  the 
acceptance  of  Jesus  Christ  should  not  compel  a  man 
to  cut  himself  off  politically  from  his  fellow  country- 
men.    They  hold  that  a  separate  electorate  is  a 


The  Indian  Church  195 

selfish  expedient,  and  tends  to  segregate  them  from 
their  fellow  countrymen.  Christians,  in  their  opin- 
ion, can  exhibit  something  higher  than  a  scramble 
for  power  and  place — something  nobler  than  a 
struggle  for  privileges  and  posts  ear-marked  for 
themselves.  They  would  like  to  merge  their  political 
interests  absolutely  with  the  non-Christians,  and 
seek  every  opportunity  to  serve  their  country  with- 
out the  assurance  of  reward. 

No  one  could  claim  that  Indian  Christians  have 
yet  attained  an  outstanding  place  in  shaping  India's 
national  development.  One  can,  however,  say  that 
their  part  is  creditable  and  full  of  hope,  considering 
the  size  of  the  community  and  the  level  from  which 
it  has  mainly  come.  When  we  remember  that  the 
Church's  capacity  for  influencing  the  nation  de- 
pends upon  the  character  of  its  leaders  more  than 
upon  its  size,  the  importance  of  missionary  educa- 
tion can  at  once  be  appreciated.  Never  before  has 
the  public  life  of  India  needed  the  help  of  Christian 
character  and  leadership  more  than  in  these  days  of 
growth  and  change.  To  what  quarter  shall  she  look 
for  honest  citizens,  for  unselfish  politicians,  and  for 
men  with  trustworthy  motives,  unless  it  be  to  the 
Christian  body? 

V 

One  great  difficulty  with  the  Church  in  India 
today  is  that  it  is  shot  through  with  Western  denomi- 
nationalism.  One  hundred  and  twenty-four  dif- 
ferent societies  have  been  engaged  in  evangelizing 
India,  and  the  religion  they  have  come  to  give  is  one 
which  has  found  divided  expression  in  the  West. 


196  Building  with  India 

Missionaries,  therefore,  have  been  busy  reproducing 
in  India  the  several  denominations  which  sent  them 
out — Anglicans  and  Methodists,  Baptists  and 
Roman  Catholics,  Lutherans  and  Presbyterians. 
Each  is  doubtless  contributing  much  to  the  Church 
that  is  to  be  in  India,  but  the  Western  denomination- 
alism,  in  its  unchanged,  imported  multiplicity,  is 
unfortunate.  In  many  cases  a  given  denomination 
is  limited  to  the  area  where  a  certain  mission  works, 
and  hence  for  such  there  can  be  no  easy  sense  of  an 
All-India  Church.  To  some  Christian  leaders  the 
fact  that  their  Church  is  not  an  All-India  organiza- 
tion is  its  greatest  defect.  This  condition  should  not 
lead  us  to  give  less  support  to  the  work  of  our  par- 
ticular denomination  in  India,  but  it  should  make 
us  eager  to  encourage  any  wise  movement  toward 
union  on  the  field. 

Threatened  by  the  great  religions  of  India,  the 
small  Christian  minority  is  driven  together  as 
Christians  are  not  in  the  West.  To  many  Indians 
their  denomination  is  a  mere  matter  of  geography, 
betokening  no  more  than  that  their  birthplace  was 
in  the  area  taken  over  by  a  certain  mission.  A  group 
of  four  thousand  non-Christians  in  a  certain  area 
wanted  to  be  baptized.  The  region  in  which  they 
lived  was  occupied  by  two  adjoining  missions  be- 
tween which  there  was  no  expression  of  spiritual 
hospitality.  United  in  their  previous  caste  feeling, 
these  converts  were  divided  in  the  Church.  When 
intelligent  Christians  from  different  areas  come 
together,  it  is  inevitable  that  Western  denomina- 
tional restrictions  on  fellowship   and   communion 


The  Indian  Church  197 

irritate.  To  many  a  high-caste  convert,  our  divided, 
almost  competitive  sections  of  Christendom  come  as 
a  distinct  shock.  Expecting  to  find  peace  in  one 
brotherhood  under  one  Leader,  they  find  a  set  of 
negotiating  factions.  There  is  a  growing  recogni- 
tion that  it  is  the  fundamentals  of  the  gospel,  and 
not  its  Western  interpretations,  that  must  form  the 
basis  of  the  missionary  message. 

The  spirit  of  union,  however,  is  abroad  in  India. 
Most  of  the  thirteen  different  Presbyterian  bodies 
have  come  together  into  a  single,  independent 
Church.  A  still  more  notable  union  is  the  young  and 
vigorous  South  India  United  Church  made  up  of 
Christians  associated  with  British,  Australian, 
German,  and  American  missions  and  including  Pres- 
byterian, Reformed,  and  Congregational  groups.  For 
several  years  this  Church  has  been  carrying  on  nego- 
tiations with  the  Church  of  England  and  the  Mar 
Thoma  Syrian  Church  for  a  still  more  comprehensive 
union  in  south  India.  For  the  Indians  such  steps 
are  in  the  way  of  union, — ^not  reunion,  since  histori- 
cally they  are  not  dissenters.  But  it  is  noticeable 
that  since  the  tide  of  nationalism  has  come  in,  the 
question  of  church  union  does  not  interest  the 
younger  Christian  leaders.  Doubtless  our  fathers 
would  have  found  it  difficult  to  throw  themselves 
into  such  a  problem  during  the  days  preceding  1776. 
It  is  hoped  that  progress  toward  a  united  national 
Church  in  India  will  not  be  at  the  price  of  loss  of 
communion  with  the  churches  of  Christ  in  other 
lands. 


ig8  Building  with  India 

VI 

The  Indian  Church  is  faced  with  a  variety  of 
problems.  One  danger  is  that  the  Christian  Church 
may  not  be  distinguished  from  the  Christian  com- 
munity. It  is  a  land  where  religion  sharply  divides 
the  people.  It  is  taken  for  granted  that  the  son  of 
a  Hindu  is  a  Hindu;  the  son  of  a  Muhammadan  is 
a  Moslem.  Similarly,  individual  decision  with 
regard  to  religion  is  not  expected  in  the  son  of  a 
Christian.  He  is  a  Christian  by  birth  and  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course.  The  danger  is  that  the  bond  of  union 
in  the  Church  may  not  be  a  common  loyalty  to 
Christ,  but  membership  in  a  social  group  with  civil 
laws  and  social  usages  of  its  own. 

The  Indian  Church  has  its  race  question.  In  the 
presence  of  the  prestige  and  moral  influence  of  West- 
ern missionaries,  how  is  the  Church  to  be  given  free- 
dom of  development?  How,  without  fatally  dividing 
the  Church  on  racial  lines,  is  it  possible  to  see  that 
Indian  thought  and  Indian  enterprise  be  not  stifled 
by  the  weight  and  authority  of  their  foreign  breth- 
ren? These  are  burning  questions  in  India.  Many 
Indian  Christian  leaders  feel  that,  while  direction  in 
many  spheres  has  been  passing  to  Indian  hands 
during  the  past  two  years,  this  movement  has  lagged 
in  mission  and  Church. 

The  use  of  the  word  "community"  may  be  mis- 
leading, for  it  tends  to  make  us  think  that  there  is 
a  single  thing  corresponding  to  a  single  word.  As 
a  matter  of  fact,  the  Christian  community  is  made 
up  of  many  "societies"  more  or  less  loosely  connected, 
with  different  customs,  traditions,  and  aspirations. 
This  appears  most  plainly  in  the  survival  of  caste 


The  Indian  Church  199 

within  the  Church — a  problem  Protestants  inherit 
from  the  practice  permitted  by  the  early  Roman 
missions  of  the  sixteenth  century.  For  example, 
there  are  two  main  castes  in  the  Telugu  area  from 
which  Christians  come — the  Malas  and  Madigas. 
These  heartily  despise  one  another.  The  worst  abuse 
a  Mala  can  give  another  is  to  call  him  a  Madiga. 
Even  after  becoming  a  Christian  it  is  hard  to  lay 
aside  these  deeply  ingrained  prejudices.  A  devout 
Christian  Mala  woman  only  after  two  years  of 
spiritual  struggle  gained  her  victory  and  consented 
to  eat  in  the  same  room  with  Madiga  Christians.  A 
crisis  in  administration  arose  in  one  area  when  a 
Mala  congregation  refused  to  have  its  marriages 
performed  by  its  Madiga  pastor.  Converts  of  higher 
castes  have  been  known  to  seat  themselves  at  the 
communion  services  so  that  the  cup  will  reach  them 
before  converts  from  certain  lower  castes.  Adult 
Christians  have  beat  their  breasts  at  the  thought  of 
taking  water  from  the  same  well  as  Christians  of  a 
lower  origin.  "What  will  our  relatives  think  of  us 
when  they  know  it?"  Boarding-school  children 
have  struck  when  children  of  a  caste  heretofore 
non-Christian  have  been  introduced.  Many  Chris- 
tians feel  a  physical  repulsion  to  certain  occupations 
and  cannot  bear,  for  example,  to  sit  beside  the  de- 
spised leather  workers.  The  whole  caste  problem  is 
more  acute  in  south  India  than  in  the  north. 

While  practically  all  Protestant  missions  are  abso- 
lutely clear  that  caste  is  inconsistent  with  the  Chris- 
tian spirit  and  should  not  be  tolerated,  certain 
practical  problems  arise.  Is  it  wise  for  us  to  exert 
pressure  to  secure  interdining  and  intermarriage 


200  Building  with  India 

between  Christians  of  different  castes?  Or  should 
we  let  their  old  limitations  and  prejudices  be 
sloughed  off  as  the  spirit  of  Christ  gets  increasing 
mastery  of  their  lives?  Is  it  best  to  erase  from 
church  records  all  trace  of  the  caste  from  which  a 
convert  has  come,  and  to  discourage  the  retention 
of  names  indicative  of  caste?  These  measures  would 
do  away  with  some  of  the  external  data  upon  which 
caste  distinctions  within  the  church  thrive;  but 
is  there  danger  that  in  obliterating  family  tradition 
and  history,  there  would  be  a  lessening  of  self-re- 
spect which  frequently  degenerates  into  pride,  but 
which  is  in  itself  a  virtue? 

To  the  educated  and  cultured  section  of  the  Chris- 
tian community,  the  mass  movements  present  a 
severe  test — a  test  which,  on  the  whole,  they  are 
very  nobly  meeting.  Let  us  catch  their  problem. 
Christian  leaders  naturally  are  eager  for  their  com- 
munity's advancement  and  for  the  discovery  and 
expression  of  a  spirit  worthy  of  Indian  Christianity. 
It  is  easy  to  see  how  they  might  chafe  at  the  dilution 
of  their  group  by  a  flood  of  immobile  and  inarticu- 
late outcaste  converts.  Such  additions  inevitably 
lower  the  literacy  percentage  and  general  standards. 
In  the  present  condition  of  rather  tense  feeling 
between  Indians  and  Westerners,  some  Christian 
leaders  are  inclined  to  resent  the  fact  that  it  is 
largely  a  foreign  agency  that  has  been  guiding  these 
mass  movements.  As  one  of  them  said,  "It  is  like  a 
foreigner  deciding  who  shall  come  into  my  drawing- 
room  and  associate  with  my  children,  without  giving 
me  any  choice  in  the  selection  or  invitation."  The 
analogy  is  not  exact,  but  it  serves  to  show  the  prob- 


The  Indian  Church  201 

lem.  Many  missions  are  now  devising  ways  by 
which  all  or  practically  all  their  work  can  be  carried 
out  under  the  advice  and  even  under  the  control  of 
representatives  of  the  Indian  Church.  What  criti- 
cism there  is  of  the  mass  movements  usually  disap- 
pears when  these  representatives  face  the  problems 
and  take  part  in  the  discussions  from  the  inside. 

When  we  pray  that  the  Indian  Church  may  have 
light  on  the  great  problem  of  caste  within  the 
Church,  let  us  not  forget  our  own  similar  needs. 
America  has  its  great  racial  problems.  There  are 
classes  and  races  that  are  by  no  means  sure  that 
they  would  receive  a  cordial  welcome  into  pews  of 
our  churches,  and  with  whom  many  would  not  want 
to  interdine.  Suppose  Indian  Christians  should 
gain  a  victory  over  their  caste  prejudices  and  from 
the  vantage  point  of  distance  should  be  able  dis- 
passionately to  see  what  our  Christian  duty  is  in 
America,  would  we  be  willing  to  receive  their 
prayers  and  messengers  in  the  spirit  in  which  we 
want  them  to  welcome  ours  ? 

Again  the  question  arises  for  Christians  as  to 
whether  they  shall  live  in  more  or  less  separated 
groups,  or  in  the  streets  and  bazaars  with  their  non- 
Christian  fellow  countrymen.  In  the  one  case, 
they  preserve  their  young  people  from  the  contami- 
nation of  the  bazaar  and  secure  greater  freedom 
of  social  life  and  intercourse,  especially  for  the 
women.  But  if  they  live  in  close  contact  with  non- 
Christians,  they  tend  to  avoid  the  selfish  and  self- 
satisfied  attitude  that  is  apt  to  develop  in  an  isolated 
Christian  group,  they  have  a  much  more  natural 
opportunity  for  influencing  their  Hindu  and  Muham- 


202  Building  with  India 

madan  neighbors,  and  the  unfortunate  impression 
of  denationalization  is  likely  to  be  less.  The  same 
question  arises  in  connection  with  college  dormi- 
tories. The  National  Missionary  Council  in  1913 
advised  mingling  Christian  and  non-Christian  stu- 
dents both  in  class-room  and  in  boarding-halls  at 
college  grade.  But  in  certain  centers  this  is  strenu- 
ously opposed  by  the  Christian  community. 

A  very  vital  question-  is  whether  the  Indian 
Church  is  able  to  finance  itself.  The  answer  here 
is  disappointing.,  One  board  that  has  conducted 
work  in  India  for  eighty-seven  years  and  whose 
annual  expenditure  there  amounts  to  $520,000  has 
only  five  churches  in  all  India  that  are  self-support- 
ing. After  investigation,  the  Wesleyan  Methodists 
of  the  Hyderabad  District  found  that  the  contribu- 
tion of  the  Indian  Church  in  their  area  to  the  sup- 
port of  its  ministry  varied  from  one  twelfth  to  one 
sixth  of  the  total  cost.  Their  considered  judgment 
was  that  with  effort  and  good  management  this  pro- 
portion could  be  raised  in  three  or  four  years  only 
to  a  general  average  of  one  fifth. 

Manifestly,  Western  churches  cannot  indefinitely 
expand  their  work  on  this  basis.  Somewhere  there 
will  come  a  financial  limit,  so  that  a  remedy  must  be 
found.  The  main  cause  of  this  dependent  condition 
is  the  extreme  poverty  of  the  people.  Most  missions 
now  see  that  a  very  definite  part  of  their  ministry 
must  be  planning  a  type  of  education  that  will  result 
in  raising  the  economic  level  of  the  people  so  that 
a  self-supporting  church  may  be  possible.  No  ser- 
vice to  the  Indian  Church  can  be  complete  without 
taking  her  economic  conditions  into  account.    Fur- 


The  Indian  Church  203 

thermore,  dearly  bought  experience  is  bearing  fruit 
so  that  the  dangers  of  pauperization  are  now  widely 
recognized.  Many  are  wisely  emphasizing  from  the 
first  this  matter  of  self-support,  and  ways  of  giving 
unfamiliar  to  the  West  have  become  common,  such 
as,  gifts  in  kind,  rice  set  aside  meal  by  meal  in  little 
bags,  assessment  of  plows,  dedication  of  coconut 
trees  or  fowls,  first  fruits,  harvest  festivals,  or  the 
refusal  to  proclaim  the  banns  if  a  young  man  is  in 
arrears  in  his  church  offering.  In  areas  where  a 
large  number  of  Christians  were  recruited  for  the 
labor  corps  and  for  the  army  during  the  War,  a  con- 
siderable amount  of  money  came  into  the  hands  of 
Christians.  The  fact  that  the  income  of  the  Church 
was  favorably  affected  shows  that,  with  improve- 
ment in  the  earning  capacity  of  the  villager,  the  in- 
digenous support  of  the  Church  becomes  more 
practicable  and  possible. 

The  rapid  economic  change  and  uplift  of  the 
Christian  community  have  their  own  danger.  Chris- 
tianity has  brought  a  new  spirit  of  freedom  and  of 
effort.  With  it  for  many  have  come  a  change  of 
status  and  new  opportunities.  The  considerable 
body  of  Christian  clerks,  traders,  schoolmasters  and 
small  landowners  is  being  continuously  recruited 
from  the  bottom  upwards.  This  process  is  bound 
to  be  present  when  you  bring  the  stimulus  of  Chris- 
tianity and  the  needs  of  mass  movements  together. 
Under  these  circumstances  Indian  Christianity 
should  receive  special  help  to  avoid  the  emergence  of 
an  ultra-practical  or  even  a  somewhat  worldly  and 
materialistic  type  of  religion. 

Christians  have  to  face  many  problems  connected 


204  Building  with  India 

with  the  family.  They  generally  give  up  the  joint 
family  system — ^where  sons  and  grandsons  bring 
their  wives  to  the  father's  house — and  adopt  the 
Western  plan  instead.  But  this  is  far  less  economi- 
cal, and  difficulties  of  adjustment  are  inevitable  in 
the  transition  stage.  Poverty  leads  some  Christians 
to  betroth  their  daughters  for  money,  as  do  the  non- 
Christians  about  them.  Since  a  Muhammadan 
marriage  is  automatically  dissolved  when  one  or 
both  parties  change  religion,  should  a  Muhammadan 
couple  be  remarried  after  either  has  received  bap- 
tism? Should  the  Church  excommunicate  a  man 
who  marries  a  non-Christian  woman?  What  was 
Paul's  practice  in  this  regard  ?  Would  the  fact  that 
we  expect  the  Hindu  and  Muhammadan  to  have 
religious  toleration  affect  this  question? 

There  is  great  need  of  revision  of  the  laws  relat- 
ing to  Christian  marriage.  For  example,  Hindu 
law  permits  no  divorce.  If  the  marriage  of  certain 
Christians  took  place  before  conversion  in  accord- 
ance with  Hindu  rites,  there  can  be  no  relief  through 
divorce  even  when  unfaithfulness  is  proved  accord- 
ing to  existing  statute  law. 

There  is  the  perennial  question  as  to  what  should 
be  done  when  a  man  with  more  than  one  wife  applies 
for  baptism.  Shall  he  be  asked  to  set  aside  all  but 
one  wife  and  thus  work  hardship  on  upright  women 
who  married  him  in  good  faith?  Shall  he  be 
received  with  all  his  wives  and  thus  risk  the  purity 
of  the  Church?  Or  shall  he  be  asked  to  attend  the 
services,  but  wait  outside  the  fellowship  of  the 
Lord's  Supper?  And  if  he  is  refused  Church  mem- 
bership because  he  has  more  than  one  wife,  shall 


The  Indian  Church  205 

the  wives  be  admitted  because  they  have  only  one 
husband  ? 

VII 

All  over  India  one  can  find  exceedingly  interesting 
and  valuable  pieces  of  work  being  done  by  Indian 
Christians.  One  of  the  most  stimulating  places 
under  Indian  management  that  one  can  visit  is 
Dornakal,  in  the  Dominions  of  the  Nizam  of  Hydera- 
bad. THis  is  the  center  of  the  diocese  of  the  Rt.  Rev. 
V.  S.  Azariah,  consecrated  in  1912  as  the  first  Indian 
Bishop  of  the  Church  of  England.  His  Manual 
Training  Institute^  has  been  developed  on  lines 
that  are  attracting  attention,  and  the  spirit  and 
methods  of  work  of  this  wise  executive  are  full  of 
suggestion  for  all  those  who  are  working  in  India. 

In  the  Punjab  is  a  missionary  district  which  for 
forty-eight  years  was  under  the  superintendence  of 
Rev.  Kali  Charan  Chatterjee,  first  Moderator  (1904) 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  in  India,  and  the  recipi- 
ent of  the  degree  of  Doctor  of  Divinity  from  Wash- 
ington and  Jefferson  College  in  1901,  and  from  the 
University  of  Edinburgh  in  1910.  Dr.  Chatterjee 
came  from  the  highest  Brahman  caste.  As  a  boy  he 
was  deeply  influenced  by  his  aunt,  who  had  been  a 
widow  from  her  childhood  and  gave  much  of  her 
time  to  prayer,  to  memorizing  the  Shastras,  and  to 
alms-giving.  As  a  result  of  Christian  teaching  in  a 
mission  high  school,  he  was  baptized  on  entering 
Alexander  Duff's  college  in  Calcutta.  In  consequence, 
this  boy  of  fifteen  was  cast  out  by  relatives  and 
friends,  who  regarded  him  as  dead  and  worse.    In 

*See  Schools  with  a  Message  in  India,  Chapter  III, 


2o6  Building  with  India 

time  he  married  a  consecrated  Christian  girl  and 
then  began  a  life  of  wonderfully  blessed  service 
rendered  by  the  devoted  pair.  He  was  placed  by  the 
Presbyterian  Mission  in  charge  of  the  Hoshyarpur 
district.  This  area  included  900,000  inhabitants 
scattered  in  2,117  villages.  Much  of  the  work  was 
among  the  outcastes.  For  over  fifty  years  this  Chris- 
tian leader  of  Brahman  birth,  strove  among  them  to 
build  up  the  Church.  He  had  good  gifts  of  organiza- 
tion and  left  behind  him  at  his  death  in  1916 
churches  with  over  three  thousand  Christians, 
although  he  had  started  out  with  none.  No  one  who 
had  ever  seen  his  tall,  venerable  figure  with  the  long, 
flowing  beard,  clear,  tranquil  eyes,  and  kindly,  dig- 
nified bearing  could  ever  forget  the  noble  Christian 
spirit  manifested  there. 

In  Bombay  is  a  dispensary  of  the  American  Board 
under  the  charge  of  Dr.  Gurabai,  who  for  over  thirty 
years  has  been  helping  to  minister  to  the  needs  of 
this  great  city.  Her  husband,  the  late  Rev.  Sumant 
Rao  Karmarkar,  was  one  of  the  first  Indian  Chris- 
tians to  come  to  America  for  study.  He  became 
known  as  "the  St.  John  of  Western  India,"  and  as  a 
distinguished  evangelist  was  asked  to  go  to  Japan  to 
an  international  conference.  Dr.  Gurabai  received 
her  medical  training  in  Philadelphia.  In  1914  she 
represented  India  in  the  World's  Y.  W.  C.  A.  Confer- 
ence in  Stockholm;  and  in  1917  came  to  America  as 
a  Christian  representative  from  India  to  the  jubilee 
meeting  of  the  Congregational  Woman's  Board  of 
Missions.  An  inspiring  international  touch  is  found 
in  the  fact  that  her  brilliant  adopted  son.  Dr. 
Vishwas  Karmarker,  gave  his  life  in  unselfish  ser- 


The  Indian  Church  207 

vice  to  America,  during  the  influenza  epidemic  of 
1918.  Letters  of  recognition  and  appreciation  came 
to  her  from  the  Mayor  of  Pittsburgh  and  the  Gover- 
nor of  Pennsylvania  after  his  death. 

Off  in  one  of  the  Punjab's  quiet  Httle  villages — by 
name  Asrapur,  or  the  "Village  of  Hope" — a  steady, 
pervasive  piece  of  work  has  been  going  on  for  thirty- 
two  years  largely  under  the  direction  of  Miss 
Kheroth  Bose,  of  the  Zenana  Bible  and  Medical  Mis- 
sion. A  testimony  to  the  value  placed  upon  her  sound 
judgment  is  the  fact  that  she  has  been  one  of  the 
Indian  members  of  the  Missionary  Council  for  All- 
India  from  its  beginning  in  1913.  Government  has 
bestowed  upon  her  the  Kaisar-i-Hind  silver  medal. 

Her  hospital  in  the  Village  of  Hope  is  an  object 
lesson  in  love  for  that  whole  region.  The  proudest 
and  most  bigoted  find  that  money  and  position  can 
bring  them  no  more  of  the  physician's  attention  and 
care  than  is  given  to  the  poorest.  Each  one  of  the 
staff,  from  the  doctor  down  to  the  youngest  nurse, 
takes  a  share  in  the  spiritual  work, — singing  hymns, 
explaining  pictures,  or  giving  addresses.  Since  all 
the  servants  and  helpers  are  Christian,  the  patients 
come  into  a  Christian  atmosphere  and  find  a  new 
interpretation  of  womanhood  in  the  happy,  useful 
lives  of  the  Christian  women.  In  the  same  way 
women  in  the  early  Church  filled  a  place  and  per- 
formed a  part  at  which  the  pagan  world  wondered. 
On  Sunday,  the  patients  who  are  able  go  to  the 
near-by  chapel,  where  the  hymns  are  lined  out  verse 
by  verse,  as  is  the  custom  for  those  who  cannot  read. 
Many  have  learned  so  to  love  this  Sunday  service 
that  long  after  completing  their  treatment,  they  have 


2o8  Building  with  India 

returned  for  the  week-end  to  catch  again  the  spirit 
of  Asrapur.  Sometimes  as  many  as  forty  villages 
will  be  represented  among  those  who  come  in  a 
single  morning  to  the  hospital.  Hence,  as  one  itiner- 
ates about  the  area,  in  village  after  village  one 
comes  across  former  patients  and  old  friends  of 
Miss  Bose,  who  treasure  in  their  hearts  memories  of 
prayer  or  verses  of  hymns  that  they  have  heard  at 
her  hospital. 

In  this  Indian-managed  center,  with  its  wonder- 
ful spirit  of  simplicity,  understanding,  and  sympa- 
thy is  held  each  year  the  Prem  Sangat  Mela — a 
gathering  of  religious-minded  people  of  whatever 
creed  or  race.  Men  and  women  come  from  far  and 
near.  The  chairman  is  usually  a  non-Christian  of 
good  repute.  It  is  agreed  that  all  who  come  shall 
call  one  another  brethren  in  the  spirit  of  love;  that 
speakers  may  say  frankly  what  they  believe  or  have 
experienced  about  their  own  faiths,  and  especially 
on  sin  and  its  remedy.  Singing  both  of  Christian  and 
non-Christian  hymns  forms  part  of  the  program. 
The  Indian  pastor,  Rev.  Wadhawa  Mai,  who  has 
been  the  moving  spirit  in  the  Mela,  attributes  much 
of  the  tolerance  to  the  influence  of  the  hospital  to 
which  women  of  all  classes  come.  Prejudice  and 
bigotry  against  Christ  are  breaking  down  since  all 
who  come  to  the  Mela  are  guests.  On  their  return 
home,  the  people  welcome  Christian  workers,  and 
many  begin  to  read  the  Bible.  One  great  feature  of 
this  Christianized  Indian  Mela  is  that  women  come 
with  the  men.  to  hear  the  same  message — a  step 
toward  the  realization  of  higher  family  life.  Chris- 
tians go  to  this  Mela,  not  only  to  teach,  but  because 


The  Indian  Church  209 

they  feel  that  they  have  something  to  learn  from 
others  who  are  living  devoutly  according  to  their 
lights.  They  are  thus  discovering  how  to  interpret 
that  aspect  of  the  gospel  which  especially  meets  the 
needs  of  their  non-Christian  friends.  The  decided 
Christian  atmosphere  of  these  gatherings  along  with 
the  very  explicit  Christian  witness  is  exciting  a 
marked  influence  on  that  whole  region. 

Noteworthy  work  by  Indian  Christians  is  by  no 
means  all  connected  with  missions.  A  Christian 
visitor  to  India  should  not  think  of  passing  through 
Poona  without  seeking  to  see  St.  Helena's  School 
under  the  charge  of  Miss  Susie  Sorabji,  the  distin- 
guished daughter  of  an  early  Parsee  convert.  You 
will  be  interested  from  the  time  when  a  shower  of 
rose-leaves  gives  you  welcome  until  you  are  taken 
out  to  see  the  geography  lesson  in  the  yard.  A 
relief  map  of  India  has  been  formed  in  the  sand  with 
water  surrounding  it.  One  child  will  recite  on  the 
exports  of  India,  and  as  she  does  so,  taking  a  toy 
boat,  she  wades  barefooted  through  the  ocean  to  a 
port  at  Karachi,  Bombay,  or  Calcutta.  She  loads 
her  ship  with  such  exports  as  tea,  rice,  cotton,  etc., 
actually  picking  these  up  from  the  proper  locations 
and  taking  them  to  the  toy  boat  which  lies  in  the 
harbor. 

One  could  ask  no  greater  privilege  for  a  visi- 
tor to  the  very  picturesque  city  of  Lahore,  than  to 
be  guided  through  one  of  its  thirteen  gates  into  its 
narrow,  winding  lanes  between  tall  buildings  with 
their  carved  and  artistic  balconies  to  the  old  palace 
of  Nau  Nihal  Singh.  From  its  terraced  roofs  one 
can  look  out  over  that  crowded  city  dotted  with 


210  Building  with  India 

mosques  and  temples.  This  old  relic  of  Sikh  glory 
is  now  used  as  a  school  for  eleven  hundred  non- 
Christian  girls,  and  here  lives  Miss  Mona  Bose,  its 
Christian  head,  who  for  over  thirty  years  has  been 
trusted  by  the  non-Christian  committee  with  the 
management  of  their  school.  Who  can  measure  the 
Christian  influence  of  this  dignified,  cultured 
woman  who  continues  to  live  within  the  walled  city 
in  close  contact  with  non-Christian  homes  and  far 
removed  from  the  freer,  more  open  and  congenial 
Christian  centers  outside  the  walls? 

At  Benares,  sacred  city  of  the  Hindus,  where 
Brahmanism  displays  itself  in  the  fulness  of  its 
power,  and  where  temples  and  idols,  symbols  and 
sacred  wells  abound  on  every  side,  one  finds  a  Chris- 
tian secretary  of  the  municipality.  Rai  Bahadur 
A.  C.  Mukerjee  has  been  repeatedly  chosen  for  this 
important  post  by  his  non-Christian  fellow-citizens 
because  they  value  his  sterling  character  and  un- 
selfish service.  He  is  also  managing  director  of  the 
district  cooperative  bank,  whose  other  officials — 
except  one  Britisher — are  Hindus,  and  he  is  an  in- 
fluential member  of  the  Provincial  Committee  on 
Cooperative  Societies. 

In  the  last  decade  long  steps  have  been  taken  in 
Indianizing  the  Christian  Association  work  in  India. 
Since  1916,  Mr.  K.  T.  Paul,  constructive  thinker  and 
Christian  statesman,  has  been  General  Secretary  of 
the  Y.M.C.A.  The  editor  of  the  Young  Men  of  India 
since  1919  has  been  Dr.  S.  K.  Datta,  author  of  The 
Desire  of  India,  whose  advice  has  been  more  than 
once  sought  by  government  commissions,  and  whose 
spiritual  and  prophetic  addresses  have  been  the  in- 


The  Indian  Church  211 

spiration  of  many  a  conference  in  Britain  and  India. 

Fifty  years  ago  a  high-caste  Hindu  youth  of  twen- 
ty-four, after  a  sleepless  night  spent  in  prayer, 
started  to  an  appointed  place  for  baptism  only  to  be 
assaulted,  carried  away  by  a  mob,  and  made  pris- 
oner in  his  own  home.  Later,  when  success  and 
recognition  made  it  possible,  he  built  a  beautiful 
home  near  the  very  tree  where  he  had  been  beaten 
on  becoming  a  Christian,  and  out  from  his  large  and 
happy  family  of  fourteen  have  gone  streams  of 
Christian  influence.  One  daughter.  Miss  Mohini 
Maya  Das,  after  graduating  from  Mt.  Holyoke  and 
serving  as  principal  of  the  Kinnaird  College  in 
Lahore,  has  become  General  Secretary  of  the 
Y.W.C.A.  for  all  India. 

Some  day  a  history  of  the  Church  in  India  will  be 
written  from  the  Indian  standpoint.  It  will  mean  a 
great  advance  in  the  intelligence  of  missionary  in- 
terest in  the  West  when  we  have  trained  our  imagi- 
nation to  see  the  growth  of  the  Kingdom  from  the 
standpoint  of  the  people  of  the  various  mission 
lands.  When  this  is  done,  Carey's  great  work  will 
be  mentioned ;  but  we  will  see  in  clearer  outline  than 
at  present  his  first  convert,  Krishna  Chandra  Pal, 
one  of  whose  hymns  has  been  translated : 

O  thou,  my  soul,  forget  no  more 
The  Friend  who  all  thy  sorrows  bore. 
Let  every  idol  be  forgot; 
But,  O  my  soul,  forget  Him  not. 

Judson's  pioneer  work  in  Burma  will  be  recog- 
nized, but  his  famous  convert,  Ko  Thah-byu,  will 
be  emphasized.  The  United  Presbyterian  Mission 
has  carried  on  most  excellent  work  among  the  out- 


212  Building  with  India 

castes  of  the  Punjab,  but  the  Indian  Church  will 
want  to  know  more  about  Ditt  of  the  much  despised 
Chuhra  caste,  a  dark  little  man,  lame  of  one  leg,  who 
with  quiet  and  modest  manner  and  with  sincerity 
and  earnestness  of  purpose  went  about  his  business 
of  buying  and  selling  hides;  and  along  with  this 
started  the  great  mass  movement  in  that  area.  A 
place  will  be  given  to  Bhaktula  Abraham,  the  first 
convert  in  the  S.  P.  G.  Telugu  work,  who  led  the 
whole  outcaste  community  of  his  village  to  accept 
the  gospel.  Other  centers  followed  this  example; 
and  thus  began  a  mass  movement  which  has  con- 
tinued to  advance  through  sixty  years. 

In  such  a  history  of  the  Indian  Church  Pandita 
Ramabai  will  stand  out  as  the  greatest  Indian  Chris- 
tian of  this  generation.  In  her  long,  toilsome  pil- 
grimages, in  her  arduous  search  through  the  entire 
range  of  Sanskrit  literature  for  some  satisfying 
truth,  the  Church  will  see  the  impotence  of  Hindu- 
ism taken  at  its  highest.  In  her  remarkable  com- 
bination of  executive,  intellectual,  and  religious 
powers ;  in  her  great  work  near  Poona  for  thousands 
of  India's  widows;  in  her  unhesitating  loyalty  to 
Jesus  Christ  and  her  humble,  devoted  service  for 
Him ;  in  what  she  is  even  more  than  in  what  she  has 
done,  the  world  may  see  what  an  Indian  soul  may  be 
when  possessed  by  Christ. 

Here  we  can  merely  name  a  few  out  of  many 
worthy  of  mention.  But  such  a  history  will  tell  us 
much  more  of  Ram  Chandra  Bose  who  became  an 
evangelist  under  the  American  Methodists  rather 
than  pursue  to  high  position  his  career  as  an  educa- 


MISS    CORNELIA   SORABJI 

One  of  seven  distinguished  daughters  of  an  early  Parsee 
convert,  the  first  lady  barrister  of  India,  and  now  serving 
under  the  Government  of  India  in  the  Court  of  Wards,  Cal- 
cutta, where  she  is  the  guardian  and  friend  of  widowed  Ranis 
(Queens)  and  baby  Rajahs  (Kings).  She  is  a  powerful  ad- 
vocate and  a  brilliant  writer,  as  is  testified  by  her  illumi- 
nating books  interpreting  the  women  and  children  of  India — 
Between  the  Twilights,  Love  and  Life  Behind  the  Purdah, 
and  Sun  Babies. 


Copyright   Ewing    Galloway 
THE  BISHOP  OF  DORNAKAL 

The  lives  and  distinguished  service  of  devoted  and  states- 
manlike Christians  such  as  the  Rt.  Rev.  V.  S.  Azariah  give 
hope  that  the  powers  and  responsibilities  of  missions  may 
increasingly  be  transferred  to  the  Indian  Church. 


The  Indian  Church  213 

tor ;  of  Ram  Chandra,  known  in  foreign  universities 
for  his  work  on  problems  of  maxima  and  minima; 
of  Rajah  Sir  Harnam  Singh  Ahluwalia,  K.C.I.E., 
who  gave  up  being  ruling  prince  in  order  to  be  a 
Christian;  of  Lilivati  Singh,  chosen  as  successor  of 
Isabella  Thoburn  as  principal  of  the  first  Christian 
college  for  women  in  India ;  of  Mrs.  Paul  Appasamy 
of  Madras,  whose  recent  tour  through  India  greatly- 
advanced  the  interest  in  the  National  Missionary 
Society;  and  of  Deaconess  Ellen  Lakshmi  Goreh,  / 
who  wrote  our  beautiful  hymn : 

In  the  secret  of  His  presence  how  my  soul  delights  to  hide! 
Oh,  how  precious  are  the  lessons  which  I  learn  at  Jesus'  side ! 
Earthly  cares  can  never  vex  me,  neither  trials  lay  me  low; 
For  when  Satan  comes  to  tempt  me,  to  the  secret  place  I  go. 

Thus  at  one  extreme  in  the  Indian  Church  are  the 
educated  leaders  whose  capacity  seems  equal  to  that 
of  the  ablest  foreign  missionaries,  and  whose  claim 
to  have  a  voice  in  the  evangelization  of  India  is  fully 
justified.  At  the  other  extreme  and  vastly  prepon- 
derating in  numbers  are  the  simple  and  undeveloped 
congregations  drawn  from  the  depressed  classes. 
Owing  to  their  poverty  and  ignorance  they  cannot 
bear  heavy  responsibilities.  Their  place  of  Chris- 
tian worship  may  be  a  mud-walled  building,  larger 
and  better  built  than  their  own  village  houses ;  or  it 
may  be  merely  a  raised,  level,  shaded  place  for 
prayer  out  in  the  open.  Such  congregations  will 
naturally  require  a  great  deal  of  training,  nurture, 
and  discipline  before  they  can  be  built  up  into  useful 
citizens  and  can  take  an  adequate  place  in  the  life  of 
the  Church  and  the  nation. 


214  Building  with  India 

VIII 

A  matter  more  important  than  the  actual  num- 
bers in  the  Church  is  the  evidence  of  inner  expan- 
sive force.  Are  there  signs  that  the  Indian  Church 
wants  to  pass  on  the  Light? 

The  Indian  Missionary  Society  of  Tinnevelly  is 
one  answer  to  this  question.  It  is  the  missionary 
expression  of  a  strong  community  with  a  Christian 
tradition  of  several  generations;  for  Tinnevelly  is 
the  center  of  one  of  the  oldest  non-Roman  missions 
in  India,  and  one  tenth  of  the  population  of  the  area 
is  Christian.  They  are  mainly  Anglicans  and  their 
Church  has  attained  a  high  degree  of  self-support, 
self-government,  and  self -propagation.  Their  society 
was  founded  in  1903,  and  raises  over  Rs.  18,000 
for  their  work  in  what  for  them  is  a  foreign  mission, 
since  it  is  in  another  language  area. 

In  1905,  in  the  very  pagoda  where  Henry  Martjoi 
used  to  pray  for  India,  there  was  organized  the  In- 
dian National  Missionary  Society.  Its  object  is  the 
evangelization  of  the  unoccupied  areas  of  India  by 
means  of  Indian  missionaries  under  Indian  man- 
agement. A  very  definite  appeal  is  made  to  the  na- 
tional spirit  in  its  constituency.  It  has  fourteen 
missionaries,  working  in  six  different  parts  of  India, 
with  a  budget  of  Rs.  37,000  (1920). 

Still  another  hopeful  sign  is  found  in  the  awaken- 
ing of  the  ancient  Syrian  Church.  Few  in  the  West 
realize  that  a  Christian  Church  has  existed  for 
fifteen  centuries  in  the  feudatory  states  of  Travan- 
core  and  Cochin  along  the  south-western  coast  of 
India.  In  popular  tradition  this  Syrian  Christian 
Church  goes  back  even  further,  being  attributed  to 


The  Indian  Church  215 

the  work  of  the  apostle  Thomas.  In  the  two  states 
named,  the  Syrian  Christians  number  one  in  four 
in  the  population,  and  in  intellectual  power  and 
vigor  they  are  equal  to  the  Brahmans.  Ancient 
rulers  have  accorded  them  important  privileges  re- 
corded on  copper  plates,  and  today  some  of  them 
hold  high  and  important  posts. 

Joy  and  sorrow  mingle  as  we  think  of  the  Syrian 
Church  in  India.  We  rejoice  that  a  church  has  con- 
tinued all  these  centuries  without  being  lost  in  the 
Indian  religions.  But  we  lament  its  lack  of  vision 
and  aggressive  evangelism.  They  have  often  had  to 
suffer  for  their  faith,  and  may  have  exercised  a  leav- 
ening influence  on  Hindu  thought,  but  through  the 
centuries  they  have  shown  almost  no  missionary  in- 
terest. They  simply  settled  down  as  a  good  caste. 
Moreover,  they  have  been  bitterly  divided  into  five 
different  groups.  This  Church  after  sleeping  for 
a  thousand  years  has  shown  distinct  signs  of  quick- 
ening. There  is  a  very  definite  rapprochement 
between  some  of  its  branches,  and  they  have  in 
recent  years  begun  to  send  out  foreign  missionaries 
of  their  own  to  learn  another  language  and  work  for 
the  Christianization  of  India.  Christian  leaders  of 
exceptional  beauty  and  winsomeness  of  character 
have  come  from  this  ancient  Church,  and  much  is 
expected  from  the  revival  stirring  among  them. 

The  recent  Evangelistic  Forward  Movement  has 
given  a  great  and  widespread  impetus  to  personal 
evangelism.  Beginning  in  the  south  the  movement 
spread  throughout  a  great  part  of  India.  The  aim 
has  been  to  lay  upon  individual  members  of  the 
Church  responsibility  in  regard  to  those  immedi- 


2i6  Building  with  India 

ately  about  them.  Tens  of  thousands  have  re- 
sponded. In  some  parts  of  the  country  the  work  has 
been  directed  by  bodies  composed  exclusively  of 
Indians.  Women  as  well  as  men  have  taken  part 
in  the  campaigns,  and  often  Indian  methods  have 
been  used.  The  villagers  begin  to  take  notice  saying, 
"There  must  be  something  in  this  thing  that  makes 
successful,  well  regarded  men  take  it  so  seriously." 
The  movement  has  been  distinctly  encouraging,  and 
it  may  be  said  in  general  that  the  churches  show  a 
growing  sense  of  responsibility  for  the  evangeliza- 
tion of  India.  The  greatest  annual  Christian  gath- 
ering in  the  world  is  a  convention  entirely  managed 
by  the  Indian  Christians  of  Travancore,  when  30,000 
people  spend  a  week  in  inspirational  meetings  and 
Bible  study. 

Beyond  and  above  all  the  Christians  may  do, 
however,  is  that  which  they  are.  It  is  impossible  to 
tabulate  the  results  of  pure  and  aspiring  lives. 
Christian  students  in  the  colleges.  Christian  teachers 
in  the  schools,  Christian  women  demonstrating  in 
manifold  forms  of  service  the  unused  resources  in 
Indian  womanhood.  Christian  homes  —  just  to  be 
Christians  is  a  great  witness.  Very  often  even  in 
crowded  thoroughfares  it  is  possible  to  distinguish 
Christians  merely  from  outward  appearances. 
Many  a  traveler  witnesses  to  the  immense  relief 
it  is  to  get  away  for  a  time  from  non-Christian  India 
and  sit  in  the  midst  of  a  Christian  audience  even 
when  the  vernacular  is  not  understood.  Hymns  are 
sung  by  women  at  their  work  in  the  rice  fields  or  as 
they  pick  the  cotton  or  weave  their  cloth.  Over 
many  a  Hindu  village  there  steals,  night  after  night, 


The  Indian  Church  217 

the  sound  of  the  native  drum  accompanying  the 
praises  not  of  Ram  or  of  Krishna,  or  yet  of  some 
more  questionable  earthly  love,  but  some  Christian 
lyric  in  praise  of  their  Lord  Jesus.  And  the  people, 
chattering  as  they  smoke,  whisper  to  one  another, 
"The  Christians  are  making  prayers."  Thus  in 
organized  and  unorganized  ways  the  message  is 
passed  on. 

IX 

Nineteen  centuries  ago  three  wise  men  from  the 
East  placed  gold,  frankincense,  and  myrrh  at  the 
feet  of  Jesus.  More  varied  and  far  more  precious 
than  such  material  gifts  are  the  capacities  and  en- 
dowments which  today  a  great  Eastern  people  can 
place  at  Christ's  disposal.  The  beauty  of  life  and 
character  already  revealed  in  the  Christian  Church 
of  India  is  but  a  foretaste  of  the  rich  contribution 
and  spiritual  insight  which  India  will  give  to  the 
world  when  Christ  has  His  way  in  that  land.  Do 
we  find  within  ourselves  a  passionate  longing  that 
the  religious  devotion  now  lavished  on  rude  stones 
and  inadequate  symbols  of  divinity  should  be  turned 
as  a  flood  to  the  Way,  the  Truth,  and  the  Life?  Only 
then  will  Christ  be  formed  in  India,  through  making 
over  her  individual  and  corporate  life  into  the  image 
of  God. 

We  have  seen  how  her  God-given  capacities  are 
handicapped,  limited,  and  suppressed  by  many  a 
grievous  burden.  Most  of  these  drawbacks  are  en- 
tirely removable  through  forces  which  issue  from  a 
Life  whose  witnesses  we  are.  Can  we,  then,  be  in- 
different when  it  is  within  our  power  greatly  to 


2i8  Building  with  India 

accelerate  the  time  when  India  will  be  freed  from 
the  drag  of  ignorance,  poverty,  and  superstition  ? 

We  have  seen  that  India  is  trying  to  help  herself. 
She  is  not  a  dead,  inert  load.  Even  non-Christians 
are  responsive  to  new  light  and  to  fresh  influences. 
Many  of  her  sons  are,  according  to  their  lights, 
striving  for  her  higher  self-realization.  All  this 
gives  promise  that  an  awakening  leadership  will 
carry  on  and  complete  the  work  when  once  they 
catch  the  vision.  In  these  days  when  the  new  India 
is  shaping  so  rapidly  before  our  eyes,  are  we  going 
to  hesitate  to  do  all  in  our  power  to  train  leaders 
and  to  share  ideals? 

Of  those  responding  to  new  influences,  growing 
numbers  acknowledge  the  Lordship  of  Jesus  Christ. 
In  Him  individuals  find  themselves  re-created  in 
their  innermost  personalities  and  full  of  gratitude 
for  new  and  unexpected  light  and  life.  One  by  one 
from  the  higher  strata  and  in  masses  from  the  out- 
castes  they  are  being  stimulated  to  consciousness  of 
personal  accountability,  worth,  and  mission.  From 
such  men  and  women  the  Indian  Church  is  forming. 
We  have  seen  this  Church  emerging  from  the  lowest 
depths  of  Hindu  society,  confronted  with  problems 
of  great  difficulty,  weighted  down  with  the  inheri- 
tances of  prejudice  and  contempt,  yet  triumphing, 
witnessing,  and  producing  Christian  citizens  and 
leaders.  Could  any  greater  call  come  to  the  Chris- 
tian friendship  of  the  West  than  the  opportunity  to 
help  this  rising  Church  in  its  task  of  winning  India 
to  the  inclusive  Christian  fellowship  at  work  for  a 
better  world? 

The  cooperation  which  we  long  to  establish  with 


The  Indian  Church  219 

India  does  not  end  with  us  as  human  beings.  At 
the  center  of  the  Christian's  universe  is  Love,  eter- 
nally creative  and  purposing  good.  The  wonder  ever 
is  that  He  welcomes  us  to  fellowship  in  service.  He 
has  a  place  for  us,  and  yearns  for  our  cooperation. 
"I  call  you  not  servants,  but  friends."  A  very  real 
part  of  our  message  is  to  share  with  India  the  trans- 
forming experience  of  being  a  "co-worker"  with 
such  a  God.  Together  and  with  God  we  will  attempt 
the  task  of  missions — ^the  Christian's  conscious 
cooperation  with  the  indwelling  Spirit  in  promoting 
the  development  of  life,  the  bringing  of  life  at  its 
highest  as  found  in  Jesus  to  bear  upon  other  life, 
individual  and  social,  that  it  may  be  raised  to 
greater  perfection  and  ever  increasing  potency.  We 
are  to  work  for  India  that  we  may  the  better  work 
with  her  in  behalf  of  a  common  goal — ^the  Eangdom 
of  God. 

Friends  of  India,  what  are  the  passion  and  con- 
viction which  move  upon  men's  hearts,  forcing  them 
either  to  go  or  send  their  best  into  such  places  of 
need  as  this  book  has  described?  Surely  statistics 
alone  cannot  do  it.  Neither  mainly  is  it  the  deline- 
ation of  every  hideous  form  which  lifts  its  head  in 
a  non-Christian  land.  It  is  something  far  more 
fundamental  than  that.  Any  careful  student  will 
see  that  the  great  need  of  our  times,  underlying  the 
need  for  all  other  reforms,  is  for  a  transformation 
of  character.  For  this  achievement  there  is  no 
other  force  remotely  comparable  to  the  person  of 
Jesus  Christ.  Balance  on  the  one  hand  all  the 
truths  and  beauties  that  the  most  careful  search  and 
the  most  generous  interpretation  can  glean  from  all 


220  Building  with  India 

the  non-Christian  faiths  taken  together,  and  on 
the  other  the  Gospels  and  the  Person  they  make 
real  to  us.  It  is  because  of  the  infinite  superiority 
and  necessity  of  the  latter  for  the  world's  need  and 
hunger  that  Christian  missionaries  offer  themselves 
in  a  glowing,  beautiful  service  among  the  neediest 
on  earth. 

In  the  last  analysis  the  measure  of  our  Christian 
outreach  to  the  world  is  the  measure  of  our  valua- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ  and  of  the  forces  and  life  ex- 
pressions to  which  He  gives  rise.  Even  non-Chris- 
tians can  see  this.  Commenting  on  the  shortage  of 
medical  missionaries,  the  Indian  Social  Reformer 
said,  "If  men  and  women  are  less  interested  in  mis- 
sions than  they  formerly  were,  they  must  be  less 
interested  in  Christ ;  and  a  revival  of  vital  religion  is 
the  only  solution  of  the  problem."  Unless  to  our- 
selves He  has  become  the  gripping  force  in  life, 
unless  we  are  conscious  of  utter  failure  without  His 
saving  power  in  our  own  lives,  unless  we  have  caught 
some  of  the  spirit  and  love  that  come  from  Him,  we 
are  not  likely  to  pay  the  price  of  giving  Him  to 
others.  God  grant  that  we  may  live  so  deeply  in 
Him  that  the  impulsion  of  a  great  experience  will  be 
sufficient  to  overcome  inertia  and  selfishness.  Then 
we  will  spontaneously  say  with  Paul,  "The  love  of 
Christ  constraineth  us" — to  yearn,  to  pray,  to  give, 
to  go. 


Prayer 

FATHER  of  all  nations,  we  bring  to  Thee  our 
thanksgiving  for  the  Church  of  India.  For 
India's  great,  yearning  heart  and  for  the  rest- 
lessness that  draws  her  people  for  satisfaction  to  the 
Christ;  for  the  first  converts  in  every  field;  for  suc- 
ceeding generations  of  Christians;  for  the  growing 
strength  and  numbers  of  those  who  are  called  by 
Thy  name;  for  the  steadfastness  of  the  ancient 
Syrian  Church  and  for  the  riches  of  Christian  char- 
acter it  contains;  for  the  signs  of  vitality  and  power, 
we  praise  Thee. 

C^Hear,  O  Father,  otir  prayer  for  this  growing 
Church  which  is  eis  a  light  shining  in  a  great  dark- 
ness, where  counter  forces  are  strong,  and  the  task 
is  almost  overwhelming.  Strengthen  its  members 
for  the  long  and  arduous  battle  which  must  be  fought 
against  old  and  ingrained  habits  of  thought  and  act 
which  tend  to  cling.  May  they  not  stop  with  the 
mere  language  of  Christian  faith  and  experience, 
but  grip  the  very  mind  and  heart  of  the  Christian 
message. 

€[As  they  begin  to  express  Christianity  in  their  own 
way,  protect  them  from  mistakes.  May  the  vigor 
and  quality  of  their  spiritual  life,  freely  expressed 
according  to  their  distinctive  powers  and  capacities, 
be  a  winsome  witness  to  all  India.  Inwardly  per- 
suaded that  Christ  is  the  secret  and  power  of 
life  for  their  own  people  both  collectively  and  indi- 
vidually, may  they  be  richly  blessed  and  guided  in 
interpreting  Him  to  their  fellows.     Amen. 


221 


^tf*'\-e-L.WW^  V         ^t*A^*xo,>-«J!*»   /\«-fc*--*-H--lt.4>».,^ 


/• 


BIBLIOGRAPHY^^^ 

Conditions  in  India  have  changed  so  rapidly  in  recent 
years  that  the  following  bibliography  has  been  limited  for 
the  most  part  to  books  that  have  appeared  within  the  last 
decade.  The  prices  quoted  are  subject  to  change.  If  one 
were  limited  to  six  supplementary  books  on  India,  the  six 
that  are  starred  (*)  might  well  be  chosen,  considering 
both  cost  and  range. 

For  other  valuable  bibliographies,  and  especially  to  those 
which  contain  full  lists  of  missionary  biography  as  well  as 
general  subjects,  we  would  direct  the  reader  to: 

A  Selected  Bibliography  of  Missionary  Literature.  Compiled 
by  J.  LovELL  Murray.  Student  Volunteer  Movement,  25 
Madison  Avenue,  New  York  City.    60  cents. 

Ten  Years'  Selected  International  Missionary  Bibliography, 
1912-1922.  Published  in  International  Review  of  Mis- 
sions. January,  1922.  25  Madison  Avenue,  New  York. 
75  cents. 

Home  Base  of  Missions,  The.  Report  of  World  Missionary 
Conference  Commission  VI.  1910.  Fleming  H.  Revell 
Co.,  New  York.  Out  of  print.  May  be  found  in  mis- 
sionary libraries. 

Readers  should  obtain  from  their  mission  boards  all  de- 
nominational literature  on  India  available. 

Geography  and  Statistics 

World  Atlas  of  Christian  Missions.  Edited  by  James  S. 
Dennis,  Harlan  P.  Beach  and  C.  H.  Fahs.  1911.  Stu- 
dent Volunteer  Movement,  New  York.    $4.00. 

World  Statistics  of  Christian  Missions.  Edited  by  Harlan 
P.  Beach  and  Burton  St.  John.  1916.  Committee  of 
Reference  and  Counsel,  25  Madison  Avenue,  New  York. 
$2.00. 

The  India  Year  Book.  Edited  by  Sir  Stanley  Reed.  Issued 
annually.  Bennett,  Coleman  &  Co.,  187  Fleet  Street,  E. 
C,  London. 

History 
Oxford  History  of  India  from  the  Earliest  Times  to  the  End 
of  1911.     Vincent  A.  Smith.     1919.     Maps.     Oxford 
University  Press,  New  York.    $6.25. 

222 


Political 

Government  of  India,  The.  J.  Ramsay  MacDonald.  1919. 
Huebsch,  New  York.     $3.50. 

History  of  the  Indian  Nationalist  Movement,  A.  Sm  Verney 
LovETT.    1920.    F.  A.  Stokes  Co.,  New  York.    $4.00. 

Indian  Nationalism.  An  Independent  Estimate.  Edwyn  R. 
Bevan.     1914.     Macmillan  Co.,  New  York.     $1.40. 

Indian  Nationality.  With  an  Introduction  by  Ramsay  Mum. 
R.  N.  Gilchrist.  1920.  Longmans,  Green  &  Co.,  New 
York.    $2.75. 

Nationalism.  Sir  Rabindranath  Tagorb.  1917.  Macmil- 
lan Co.,  New  York.    $1.25. 

Social  and  Economic 

India's  Silent  Revolution.  F.  B.  Fisher  and  Gertrude  M. 
Williams.     1919.    Macmillan  Co.,  New  York.    $1.50. 

*Peoples  and  Problems  of  India.  Sir  Thomas  W.  Holder- 
NESS.    1912.    Henry  Holt  &  Co.,  New  York.    50  cents. 

Social  Ideals  in  India.  William  Paton.  1919.  United 
Council  for  Missionary  Education,  London.    Is.  3d. 

Statement  Exhibiting  the  Moral  and  Material  Progress  and 
Condition  of  India.  Published  annually.  Wyman.  Lon- 
don.   4s.  6d. 


Education 

Education  of  the  Women  of  India.  Minna  G.  Cowan.  1913. 
Fleming  H.  Revell  Co.,  New  York.    $1.25. 

Our  Christian  Debt  to  India:  A  Plea  for  a  United  Christian 
Effort  to  Meet  the  Educational  Needs  of  Indian  Villages. 
J.  N.  Oldham.  1918,  Conference  of  Missionary  Socie- 
ties of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  London.    6d. 

Schools  with  a  Message  in  India.  Daniel  Johnson  Fleming. 
1921.     Oxford  University  Press,  New  York.     $2.40. 

Village  Education  in  India.  A  Commission  of  Inquiry.  1920. 
Oxford  University  Press,  New  York.    $2.50. 

Art  and  Music 
Arts  and  Crafts  of  India.     A.  K.  CooMARASWAMY.     1914. 

Phillips,  Leroy  Co.,  Boston.    $1.75. 
Handbook  of  Indian  Art.    E.  B.  Havell.    1921.  E.  P.  Button 

&  Co.,  New  York.    $10.00. 
Handbook  of  Musical  Evangelism.    L.  I.  Stephen  and  H.  A. 

POPLEY.     1914.     Madras   Methodist   Publishing   House. 

12  annas. 
Indian  Painting.    Percy  Brown.    1919.    Oxford  University 
Press,  New  York.    70  cents. 

223 


Indian  Religions  and  Christianity 

Chamars,  The.  George  W.  Briggs.  1921.  Oxford  Universi- 
ty Press,  New  York.    $2.70. 

*Crovm  of  Hinduism,  The.  J.  N.  Farquhar  1917.  Oxford 
University  Press,  New  York.    $2.70. 

Dravidian  Gods  in  Modern  Hinduism.  W.  T.  Elmore.  1915. 
Printed  by  University  of  Nebraska,  Lincoln,  Neb. 
$1.00. 

*India  and  Its  Faiths:  A  Traveler's  Record.  James  Bissett 
Pratt.    1915.    Houghton  Mifflin  Co.,  Boston.    $4.00. 

Modem  Religious  Movements  in  India.  J.  N.  Farquhar. 
1915.     Macmillan  Co.,  New  York.     $2.50. 

Primer  of  Hinduism.  J.  N.  Farquhar.  1912.  Oxford  Uni- 
versity Press,  New  York.    85  cents. 

Redemption,  Hindu  and  Christian.  Sydney  Cave.  1919. 
Oxford  University  Press,  New  York.     $5.25. 

ViUage  Gods  of  South  India,  The.  Henry  Whitehead. 
1921.  Milford,  London;  Oxford  University  Press,  New 
York.     6s. 

Christianity  in  India 

Among  the  Wild  Tribes  of  the  Afghan  Frontier.  T.  L.  Pen- 
NELL.    1909.    J.  B.  Lippincott  Co.,  Philadelphia.    $3.50. 

*Goal  of  India,  The.  W.  E.  S.  Holland.  1918.  United  Coun- 
cil for  Missionary  Education,  London.    5s. 

History  of  Missions  in  India.  Julius  Richter.  1908.  Flem- 
ing H.  Revell  Co.,  New  York.    $2.50. 

India  in  Conflict.  P.  N.  F.  YouNG  and  Agnes  Ferres.  1920. 
Macmillan  Co.,  New  York.    $1.40. 

India  on  the  March.  Alden  H.  Clark.  1922.  Missionary 
Education  Movement,  New  York.    75  and  50  cents. 

Lighted  to  Lighten.  Alice  B.  Van  Doren.  1922.  Central 
Committee  on  the  United  Study  of  Foreign  Missions, 
West  Medford,  Mass.    75  and  50  cents. 

Our  Task  in  India;  Shall  we  Proselytise  Hindus  or  Evan- 
gelize India.  Bernard  Lucas.  1914.  Macmillan  Co., 
New  York.    $1.00. 

*Outcastes'  Hope,  The:  or  Work  Among  the  Depressed 
Classes  in  India.  G.  E.  Phillips.  1912.  United  Council 
for  Missionary  Education.    London.  2s. 

Renaissance  in  India:  Its  Missionary  Aspect.  C.  F.  An- 
drews. 1912.  United  Council  for  Missionary  Educa- 
tion, London.    Is.  lOd. 

Social  Christianity  in  the  Orient:  The  Story  of  a  Man,  a 
Mission,  and  a  Movement.  John  E.  Clough.  1914. 
Macmillan  Co.,  New  York.    $1.50. 

224 


Biographies  of  Christian  Indians 

An  Indian  Priestess:  the  Life  of  Chandra  Lela.  Ada  Lee. 
1902.     Morgan  and  Scott,  London.    Out  of  print. 

Jaya.    Beatrice  M.  Harband.    Marshall  Brothers,  London. 

Kali  Charan  Banurji.  B.  R.  Barber.  1912.  Christian  Lit- 
erature Society  for  India,  London. 

Lai  Bihari  Day.  G.  Macpherson.  1900.  F.  &  T.  Clark. 
Edinburgh. 

Life  and  Letters  of  Torn  Dutt.  Harihar  Das.  1921.  Ox- 
ford University  Press,  New  York.     $8.00. 

Life  of  Father  Goreh.  C.  E.  Gardner.  1900.  Longmans, 
Green  &  Co.,  New  York.     $1.75. 

Lilavati  Singh.  Florence  L.  Nichols.  1909.  Woman's 
Foreign  Missionary  Society  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal 
Church,  581  Boylston  Street,  Boston,  Mass.    29  cents. 

Message  of  Sadhu  Sundar  Singh.  B.  H.  Streeter  and  A.  J. 
Appasamy.    1921.    Macmillan  Co.,  New  York.    $1.75. 

*Pandita  Ramabai.  Helen  S.  Dyer.  1911.  Fleming  H.  Re- 
vell  Co.,  New  York.     $1.25. 

Ponnamal:  Her  Story.  Amy  Wilson  Carmichael.  1918. 
Morgan  and  Scott,  London. 

Prince  of  the  Church  in  India,  A.  J.  C.  R.  EwiNG.  1918. 
Fleming  H.  Revell  Co.,  New  York.    75  cents. 

Stories  of  Indian  Christian  Life.  Samuel  S.  Satthlanadhan. 
1898.     Madras,  India. 

Sunder  Singh;  the  Apostle  of  the  Bleeding  Feet.  Alfred 
Zahir.  Included  in  a  collection  called  A  Lover  of  the 
Cross.  Published  in  India,  An  American  edition  pub- 
lished by  B.  T.  Badley  is  out  of  print  but  may  be  ob- 
tained through  some  missionary  libraries. 

Stories  about  India 

Eyes  of  Asia,  The.  Rudyard  Kipling.  1918.  Doubleday, 
Page  &  Co.,  Garden  City,  N.  Y.  $1.00. 

India,  Beloved  of  Heaven.  Brenton  Thoburn  Badley  in 
collaboration  with  Oscar  MacMillan  Buck  and  James 
Jay  Kingham,  with  an  introduction  by  Bishop  W.  F. 
Oldham.  The  Abingdon  Press,  150  Fifth  Avenue,  New 
York.     $1.00. 

Kim.  Rudyard  Kipling.  1918.  Doubleday,  Page  &  Co., 
Garden  City,  N.  Y.    $1.50. 

On  the  Face  of  the  Waters.  Flora  Annie  Steel.  Mac- 
millan Co.,  New  York.    $1.50. 

Outcaste,  The.    F.  E.  Penny.    Published  in  London. 

Potter's  Thumb,  The.  Flora  Annie  Steel.  Harper  and 
Brothers,  New  York.     $1.50. 

Sanyasi,  The.    F.  E.  Penny.    Published  in  London. 

Tara.    Meadows  Taylor.    Published  in  London. 

225 


<A 


^it-iyX^ 


INDEX 


Abraham,  Bhaktula,  cited,  212. 

Age   of   Consent  Act,  83. 

Agnew,   Eliza,  cited,   122. 

Agricultural  and  _  Horticultural 
Society  in  India,  cited,  118. 

Agriculture,  possibilities  _  of,  17; 
causes  of  backwardness  in,  43-47; 
improvement  in  possible,  45-46, 
48;  control  of,  transferred  to 
Indians,  104;  experiments  in, 
131,  132-134;  committee  on  indus- 
trial  and  agricultural   work,   132. 

All-India  conference  of  Indian 
Christians,   194. 

All-India  Muslim  Women's  Asso- 
ciation,   87. 

Appasamy,    Mrs.    Paul,    cited,    213. 

Arya  Samaj,  the,  78-81. 

Asrapur,  "Village  of  Hope,"  hospi- 
tal   at,    207-209. 

Azariah.  Rt.   Rev.  V.  S.,  cited,  205. 

Bangalore,    women's    clubs    in,    86. 
Bannerjea,   Krishna  Mohan,  193. 
Banurji,  Kali  Charan,  cited,  193. 
Baptism,    problems    of,    177-179,    204. 
"Black   Cobra    Act,"    105. 
Bombay,   women's   clubs   in,   86,   87; 
American  Board  dispensary  in,  206. 
Bombay  Infant  Welfare  Ass'n,  86. 
Bose,   Miss   Kheroth,  207. 
Bose,   Miss   Mona,  210. 
Bose,    Ram    Chandra,   212-213. 
Brahmo   Samaj,  the,   76-77. 
Buddhism,  12,  68-69.  _ 
Bureau    of     Economic    Welfare    in 

Telugu  area,  131-132. 
Butler,  William,   cited,   119. 

Carey,  William,  74-75,  76,  117-118, 
130,  211. 

Caste,  problems  arising  from,  56, 
58-59.    77,    158,    170,    199-200. 

Chandra,  Ram,  cited,  213. 

Chatterjee,  Rev.  Kali  Charan,  205- 
206. 

Childbirth   conditions,   137-139. 

Child  marriage,  evil  effects  of,  32, 
34,  66,  67,  68,  77,  78,  80. 

Christianity,  essential  _  differences 
between  India's  religions  and, 
68-72;  effect  of  social  reform  _  on 
acceptance  of,  113-113;  nationalism 
and,  145-150;  opposition  to,  148- 
149,  173-179;  results  of,  on  a 
community,   168-170. 

Christians,  Indian,  national  as- 
pirations of,  18;  influence  and 
work  of,  127-129,  193-194,  205-213; 
evidences  of  change  in,  168,  215- 
217;  persecution  of,  172-173,  177; 
problem  of,  in  legislative^  council, 
194-195;  problems  of  living  con- 
ditions among,  201,  203-204. 


Datta,  Dr.  S.  K.,  cited,  210. 
Dayanand,   Swami,   78-80. 
Death-rate,  31,  33,  34,  51,  137. 
Delhi    Child    Welfare    Exhibit,    3S. 
Denominationalism,     effect     of,     on 

Indian  Church,  195-197. 
Depressed   classes,   158;    disabilities 

of,       159-163;       mass       movements 

among,  164-170;  rights  of,  claimed, 

180-181. 
Depressed    Classes   Mission  Society, 

181. 
Duff,  Alexander,  75,  113,   121,   193. 

Economic  conditions,  in  relation 
to  crops,  42,  43,  47;  seriousness 
of,  51;  Christianity's  responsi- 
bility to  relieve,  52;  relation  of 
the  missionary  to,  130-136;  op- 
posed to  Christianity,  173-174; 
the    Indian    Church    and.    177. 

Education,  mission  schools,  39-40; 
handicaps  and  progress  in,  53-56; 
work  of  Arya  Samaj  in,  80;  wom- 
en's demonstration  in  behalf  of, 
88;  effect  of  Western,  on  political 
structure,  98;  British  system  of, 
101;  control  of,  transferred  to  In- 
dians,_  104;  work  of,  carried  on 
by  missions,  120-130;  importance 
of,  124-125;  "conscience  clause" 
and,  125-127;  some  problems  of, 
125-130;  problem  of  Christian,  and 
state,  127-129;  unique  contribution 
of  Christian,  128-129;  need  of  sup- 
port for,  129-130;  among  depressed 
classes,  161;  insufficient  means 
for  supporting,  182;  result  of,  on 
economic  conditions,  202-203;  St. 
Helena's  School  at  Poona,  209. 

Evangelistic  Forward  Movement, 
215. 

Family  system  in  India,  63-66; 
problem  of,  under  Christian  con- 
ditions, 204. 

Gandhi,    14,    106-107. 

Gokhale,  G.   K.,  84. 

Goreh,  Deaconess  Ellen  Lakshmi,  213. 

Great  Britain,  government  of,  in 
India,  92-93,  95;  policy  of,  toward 
Indians,  95,  96;  India  united 
under,  98;  attitude  of,  toward  a 
"responsible"  government,  99; 
Indian  grievances  against,  100-101; 
defense  of  policy  of,  102-103; 
pledges  of,  during  World  War, 
103;   control   divided  by,   104-105. 

Griffen,  D.  W.,  133. 

Gurabai,  Dr.,  cited,  206. 

Health  problems,  32  ff.;   38,  40-41. 
Heber,  Bishop  Reginald,   118-119. 


226 


Hinduism,  systems  of  philosophy  in, 
7;  recognition  of  that  which  is 
worthy  in,  12;  effect  of,  on  social 
customs,  66-68;  compared  with 
Christianity,  69-71;  evils  of,  70- 
71;  development  of  an  ethical 
religion  in,  112-113;  growth  of 
societies  in,  113;  as  opponent  to 
Christianity,  148-149;  result  of 
philosophy  of,  158. 

Home   rule  movement,  88,   103. 

Hymns,  of  India,  4-S,  6;  187. 

India,  architecture  of,  2,  16,  19 
handicraft  of,  3;  culture  of,  3-6 
15-16,  17,  20,  25-26;  illiteracy  in 
3-4,  53,  124;  music  of,  4-5;  story 
telling  in,  5;  classic  literature  of 
6,  15;  attributes  of,  6ff.,  17-18 
sadhus  of,  8-10;  religious  con 
sciousness  of,  lOff. ;  quest  for  in 
ner  peace  in,  11;  nationalism  in 
ISfF.,  21;  pride  of  country  in,  16 
resources  of,  17;  recognition  de 
manded  by,  in  world  councils 
18;  health  problems  of,  31-41  ;eco 
nomic  problems  of,  41-44,  51-52 
agricultural  conditions  of,  44-48 
industrial  problems  of,  49-51;  ed 
ucational  handicap  of,  53-56;  caste 
problems  of,  56-61;  position  of 
women,  61-63;  family  system 
among,  63-66;  handicap  of  Hindu- 
ism to,  66-72;  aspiration  of,  to 
social  reform,  76-86;  modern 
women's  movement  among,  86-92; 
democratic  aspirations,  92-94;  100- 
107;  native  political  reform  in, 
97ff.;  effect  of  wars  on,  100;  de- 
mands of,  after  World  War,  103; 
post-war  grievances  of,  105fT. ; 
the  missionaries  relation  to  polit- 
ical affairs  in,  108-109,  to  wom- 
an's movement,  '109,  to  social  re- 
form, 112-114. 

Indian  Christian  Church,  the,  7,  24; 
development  of,  125,  145-150,  151; 
present  opportunity  of,  181-182, 
184;  characteristics  of,  185-186;  re- 
lation of,  to  nationalism,  192; 
Western  denominationalism  and, 
195-197;  spirit  of  union  growing 
in,  197;  problems  of,  198-204; 
financial  ability  of,  202-203; 
famous  converts  in,  211-213;  need 
of  depressed  classes  in,  213;  evi- 
dence of  inner  expansive  force  in 
214-217;  contribution  of,  to  Chris- 
tianity,  217-218. 

Indian    Industrial    Commission,    35. 

Indian  Missionary  Society  of  Tin- 
nevelly,  214. 

Indian  National  Congress,  organi- 
zation of,  99;  pledged  to  elevate 
depressed  classes,  180;  increasing 
number  of  Christians  sent  to,  194. 

227 


Indian  National  Missionary  So- 
ciety,  214. 

Indian  Social  Reformer,  82-84. 

Indian   Society   of  Oriental   Art,   17. 

Indian  Woman's  Suffrage  Associa- 
tion, 87. 

Industrialism,  49,  51, 104, 131-136, 143. 

International  Federation  of  Uni- 
versity Women,  87. 

International  Missionary  Council 
of  1921,  146. 

International  Women's  Suffrage 
Alliance  in  Geneva,  88. 

Jainism,   7,    12,   68-69. 
Jewett,   cited,   119. 

Karmarkar,   Dr.   Vishwas,   206-207. 
Karmarkar,   Rev.   Sumant  Rao,   206. 

Limitation  of  Armament  Con- 
ference, India  represented  at,  18. 

London  Missionary  Society,  mass 
movement  report  of,  165. 

Lone   Star   Mission,   119. 

Lowcaste  peoples.  See  Depressed 
classes. 

Lowrie,  John  C,  cited,  119. 

McDougall,   Miss   Eleanor,  123. 

MacKellar,  Margaret,  cited,  139-140L 

Marriage,  131,  154;  debts  incurred 
at  time  of,  44,  160;  dominated  by 
family  interest,  65-66;  effects  of 
Hinduism  on,  66-67,  68;  need  for 
revision  of  laws  relating  to 
Christian,   204. 

Marshman,  cited,  118. 

Martyn,   Henry,  cited,    118,   214. 

Mass  Movement,  beginning  of,  119- 
120;  development  of,  163-167; 
changes  observable  after,  168- 
170;  problem  of,  resulting  from 
caste,  170;  economic  and  social 
problems  due  to,  173;179. 

Maya  Das,  Miss  Mohini,  cited,  211. 

Medical   Missions,   136-142,   207-208. 

Methodist  Episcopal  Mass  Move- 
ment Commission,  report  of,  165. 

Missionaries,  pioneer,  116-123;  hard- 
ships of,  120;  aim  of,  144-145; 
types  of,  needed,  150-156;  present- 
day  problems  of,  in  India,  153- 
155;  training  of  native,  214. 

Missionary,  the,  relation  of,  to 
growth  of  nationalism,  21;  to 
the  best  in  Hinduism,  22-24;  to 
the  Indian  Christian  Church,  24- 
25;  to  India's  folk-lore,  art,  litera- 
ture, 25;  to  her  culture,  26-27;  to 
political  affairs,  108-109;  to 
woman's  movement,  109-112;  to 
social  reform,  112-114;  to  modern 
trend  of  Hinduism,  113-114;  to 
educational  work,  120-130;  to  eco- 
nomic betterment,  130-136;  to 
medical  work  and  sanitation,  136- 


^ 


'i 


> 


142;  to  social  reform,  142-144;  to 
the  Indian  Church,  145-150;  to 
native  customs,  152-155;  to  the 
problem  of  caste,  170,  173,  200. 

Missions,  basis  of,  20-21;  some 
problems  of,  20-26,  14Sff. ;  impor- 
tance of,  in  history,  116;  aim  of, 
144ff. ;  the  Indian  Christian 
Church  and,  145-150;  inadequacy 
of,  181-182. 

Mukerjee,   Rai  Bahadur  A.  C,  210. 

Nationalism,  development  of,  15-19, 
21,  97fl.;  effect  of  growth  of,  21; 
health  problems  and,  38;  effect  of, 
on  condition  of  women,  86;  de- 
velopment of  leadership  in  Indian 
Church  due  to,   145-148,  192. 

National  Missionary  Council,  147, 
170,  202. 

National    Missionary    Society,    213. 

National   Social   Conference,   81-82. 

National  Social  Congress,  87. 

Non-co-operation    Movement,    106. 

Nurses,    training   of,    141-142. 

'    Outcastes,"  158-161.    See  Depressed 
/     classes. 

Pal,    Krishna    Chandra,   211. 
Paul,    K.   T.,  210. 
Pennell,  Dr.,   140-141. 
^   Plague,   33-33,   40,    137, 
Poems,  quoted,  13,  188. 
..  Poena  Seva   Sadan,  90-91. 
,  Prarthana  Samaj,  the,  77,   181. 
Punjab,  the,  unfortunate  events  in, 

106,   107;   mass   movement  in,   165; 

missionary  district  of,  205. 
Purdah,  evil  effects  of,  34-35. 

Ramabai,  Pandita,  12,  24-25,  89,  212. 

Ranade,  Justice,  88-90. 

Ranade,  Mrs.  Ramabai,  89-91. 

Reed,  Mary,  120. 

Rockefeller  Foundation,  work  of,  33. 

Roy,   Ram  Mohan,  75. 

Sanitation,  problems  of,  37-39,  136- 
142;  progress  in,  40-41;  control  of, 
transferred   to   Indians,   104. 

Santiagu,    Pastor,   127-128. 

Schwartz,  Christian  Friedrich,  117, 
165. 

Scudder,  John,  139. 

Self-government,   193. 
>    Servants  of  India  Society,  84-85. 
'    Singh,  Rajah  Sir  Harnam,  213. 

Singh,  Lilivati,  cited,  213. 
=    Singh,  Sadhu  Sundar,  186,  190-192. 

Social  customs,  debts  incurred  be- 
cause of,  43-44,  160;  effect  of  world 
conscience  on,  71;  problems  re- 
sulting from,   153-154. 

Social  reform,  74,  107,  194;  Hinduism 
a  handicap  to,  66-68;  beginnings  of, 
in  India.  75;  the  Brahmo  Samaj, 
76-77;    the    Prarthana    Samaj,    77- 


78;  the  Arya  Samaj,  78-81;  Na- 
tional Social  Conference,  81-82; 
the  Indian  Social  Reformer,  82- 
84;  Servants  of  India  Society, 
84-85;  women's  activities  in,  86- 
92;  missions   and,   142-144. 

Social    service,    142-144. 

Sorabji,   Miss  Susie,  209. 

Swain,  Clara,  139. 

Syrian   Christian   Church,  214-215. 

Tagore,    Rabindranath,   quoted,    58. 
Telugu  area,  119;  economic  develop-. 

ment  in,  131;  mass  movement  in, 

164,  165,  166,   199,  212. 
Thah-byu,    Ko,    cited,    211. 
Thatiah,    Baugarapu,   cited,   166. 
Theosophical    Society,    The,    22-23. 
Thoburn,   Isabella,  cited,  123,  213. 
Thoburn,  Bishop  J.  M.,  cited,  119. 
Tilak,     Narayan     Vaman,     186-190; 
Tinnevelly,  mass  movement  in,  165, 

168,   214. 
Trade  Union  Congress,  50. 
Travancore,  mass  movement  in,  165, 

168,   214,  216. 

United  Presbyterian  Mission,  211-212. 
United    Provinces,    mass    movement 

in,    165. 
"Untouchables,"   158. 

Venkayya,   Pagolu,   cited,   166, 

Ward,  cited,   118. 

Widows,   62-63,   86-87. 

Williamson,  Henry  Drummond,  166- 
167. 

Wilson,  John,  77,  121. 

Woman's  Christian  College,  Ma- 
dras, 123. 

Women,  India  handicapped  by  po- 
sition given  to,  61-62,  63;  organi- 
zations of,  86-92;  steps  taken  to 
better  condition  of,  87;  schools 
for,  122-123;  industrial  work 
among,  134-136;  need  of  medical 
missions  for,  137-139;  influence  of 
lowcaste,  on  spread  of  Christi- 
anity, 171. 

Women's   Conference,   87. 

Women's  Movement,  direct  and  in- 
direct causes  of,  92;  the  mis- 
sionary's relation  to  the,  109-113. 

Women's  Union  Medical  Mis- 
sionary School  at  Vellore,  142. 

World  War,  India  and  the,  17,  103. 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association, 
books  on  India,  24. 

Young  Men's  Christian  Association 
of  India,  210. 

Young  Men  of  India,  210. 

Young  Women's  Christian  Associa- 
tion  in   India,   123. 

Ziegenbalg,    cited,    117. 


228 


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